The Sudanese Presidential Election

     Because of the fact that various independence movements have taken place in Africa recently, when talking about Sudanese politics, one has to keep in mind that in reality there are two countries whose name is “Sudan.” In this case, this brief election analysis will focus not on “South Sudan,” but on “Sudan” properly, which is located in the North, but its official name does not include that detail. In addition, while limiting the framework of this essay, it is important to say that even though there is a general election scheduled tentatively for this Thursday, April 2nd, the presidential process will be the main topic.

     The fact that this country has a multi-party electoral system means that several parties might run for office, but only the one that gets the majority of popular votes will take official position. Additionally, unlike previous analyses in which parliamentary elections have been described, this case study is related to a presidential system, which means that the Congress and Presidential branches are separated. In other words, this is a political system in which executive and legislative power are allocated separately. Due to the fact that there are independent branches of government, this kind of authority is well-known academically like “divided government.” Also, contrary to parliamentary systems, the head of the government selects directly his or her own cabinet in presidential systems. As a result, this brings many consequences in terms of policy-making processes.

     In regard with the primary political players that are related with this election in particular, it goes without saying that although there are fifteen candidates running for presidency, just Omer Hassan al-Bashir, who is the current president of Sudan, and who has been governing this country since the 1989 coup, has real possibilities. Even though he had said that he was not going to seek re-election after his 2010 presidential campaign, it is a fact that the odds that he wins again are high. His political organization, the country's ruling National Congress Party, is competing against other parties that have low probabilities of winning, such as The Popular Congress Party and the Democratic Unionist Party. Moreover, only “six of the presidential candidates are running on their party ticket while all the others are running as independents” (Naib, 2015). Also, according to reports given by the National Elections Commission, eight international groups want to supervise this electoral process as well as over 170 more local organizations.

     Furthermore, the most evident issue under debate in this specific election is undoubtedly the fears of an electoral boycott. Throughout history Sudan has been characterized by its political instability. Also, as many other African countries, Sudan is likely to undergo armed conflict close to political processes. For instance, before its independence, there was a civil war between South Sudan and Sudan that resulted in millions of deaths. In this case, in particular, there is a call for a boycott by the political opposition. To put it differently, the National Consensus Forces launched a campaign for a poll boycott under the slogan “Erhal”, which means in English “leave.” This opposition alliance states that citizens “have the right to boycott as they have the right to vote.” (Naib, 2015). In spite of these electoral threats, the registration process went smoothly.

     To sum up, even though this month Sudanese people will attend polls to decide who their next president will be, it seems like the same person that has been governing during almost the last 26 years is going to keep the power for at least one more term. The general elections are near and all the advertisements have been promoting the same candidate and his party, who is Omar al-Bashir, of the National Congress Party. Meanwhile, the hopelessness regarding changes among the peoples of Sudan is present.