Roundup: Sudan's Bashir confident to win presidential race

Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir on Monday appeared confident of winning the presidential race as he cast his vote in Khartoum on the first day of the country's general elections.

Bashir cast seven ballots; one for the presidency, three for the national parliament and three for the state legislative councils.

After casting his vote at the polling station of San Francis School in Khartoum, Bashir raised his index finger, which was soaked with the electoral ink, hailing his supporters and saying "Allahu Akbar."

Meantime, the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) praised the high turnout as a practical response to the opposition's calls to boycott the elections.

"These crowds you see in this polling station represent the Sudanese people rather than the supporters of the ruling party," Al-Haj Adam Yousif, a leading NCP member and former Sudanese vice-president, told Xinhua.

However, he saw no problem if some political forces boycotted the elections. "This is a kind of political exercise. Everybody has the right to express what he sees right without violation to the law," he noted.

He added that this year's elections constitute an important transition in Sudan's political history and usher in a flourishing future for the country through the peaceful handover of power.

It is widely believed that Bashir, the ruling party's candidate, would face weak competition in the race and is likely to get re-elected.

Bashir is competing against 15 other candidates; some of them represent small parties with little popular support, while the rest are running as independents.

According to the Sudanese National Elections Commission (NEC), 44 political parties are taking part in the elections out of 88 registered parties.

Major opposition parties, including the National Umma Party, led by Al-Saddiq Al-Mahdi and the Sudanese Communist Party, are boycotting the elections in addition to the armed groups which are fighting the government at Darfur, Blue Nile and South Kordofan regions.

Regional organizations such as the African Union, the Inter-Governmental Authority for Development in Africa (IGAD) and the Arab League are monitoring the elections, according to the NEC.

Some countries are also monitoring the elections including China, Russia and Nigeria as well as seven neighboring countries and 210 Sudanese organizations.

The elections will run till Wednesday while a vote count is set to begin the next day. The final results of the elections are scheduled to be announced on April 27. Endit