News Analysis: Sudan election results as expected with landslide victory for ruling party

Results of Sudan's general elections, announced Monday, came according to expectations as the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) won the majority of the votes at both presidential and legislative polls.

The Sudan National Elections Commission (NEC) Monday stated that al-Bashir, ruling party candidate, won the presidential polls with 5,252,478 votes out of 6,091,412 votes, or 94.5 percent of the valid votes.

The ruling party also obtained the largest number of votes in legislative elections with 323 seats out of 426, followed by the Democratic Unionist Party-Original with 25 seats besides 19 seats for independent candidates, 15 for the Democratic Unionist party and 7 for the Federal Umma Party.

Observers' viewpoints varied regarding the ruling party's landslide victory in the elections with some believing it reflects NCP influence on political life in the country, while others attributed it to major parties' boycotting of the elections.

To this end, Al-Fatih Hussein, a Sudanese political analyst, told Xinhua that "these results reflect the power of the NCP and its influence on political life. This is natural as the party has been ruling the country for over 20 years."

"There is no party competing with the NCP at this phase. Sudanese citizens seem convinced with the NCP program and are inclined to support it as a party that has enough experience to address the issues facing Sudan," he added.

However, Dr. Mohamed Ahmed Saeed, another Sudanese political analyst, believes that major political parties' boycotting of the elections was behind the NCP's landslide victory.

"There was no real competition because all the parties which participated in the electoral process, excluding the ruling party, were small parties with no experience. Some even participated for the first time," Saeed told Xinhua.

He went on to say that Sudanese voters were not informed of these small parties nor their programs or even candidate names, pointing out that "under such circumstances, it is natural for the ruling party to achieve a sweeping victory at all election levels."

Major opposition parties, including the National Umma Party, led by Saddiq Al-Mahdi, the Communist Party and the Ba'th party, boycotted the general elections after the government refused to delay them.

Shortly after the NEC announced the election results, the national opposition alliance, a body combining most Sudanese opposition parties, issued a statement saying it does not recognize the results, urging Sudanese people to topple the government.

"The elections reflect the awareness of the Sudanese people who boycotted them," said the statement, noting that they revealed the system's isolation and failure.

In addition, the Democratic Unionist Party-Original, led by Mohamed Osman al-Merghani, though a participant in the elections, announced its rejection of the results, stressing that options are open before the party to take appropriate action.

What's more, Osama Hassona, a leading member in the party, told reporters Monday that the party's organizational secretariat met and decided that the results were unsatisfactory and do not suit the party status nor its supporters.

He added that numerous violations took place in the states, including the fact that some voters cast their votes through residing certificates, pointing out that they filed a number of appeals with no response.

Meanwhile, Mariam Al-Saddiq Al-Mahdi, deputy chairman of the National Umma Party, described the elections to reporters as a fake game aiming to mislead the Sudanese street and ensure the government's continuation.

Presidential and legislative polls in Sudan were conducted April 13 lasting for three days.

Al-Bashir competed against 15 candidates, some of whom represented small parties with little popular support, while the rest ran as independents. Enditem