NUP leader: FFC to select most seats in new Sudan parliament

Deputy Chairman of the National Umma Party (NUP) and leading figure in Sudan’s opposition Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC), Dr Ibrahim El Amin, says that the Constitutional Declaration agreed on by the Transitional Military Council and the FFC to be signed on August 17 has given the FFC the right select 67 per cent of the Legislative Assembly members and assigned the remaining 33 per cent of the membership to the non-signatory forces.

El Amin attributes this to “the need to enable the transitional government to implement its programme in the fixed time and to immunise it from any attempt to withdraw confidence from it”.

In an interview with the official Sudan News Agency (SUNA), El Amin indicated that if confidence is raised in the transitional government one or three weeks after its formation, the government will be shaken and the whole situation will be fully affected

“Therefore, it was agreed in the constitutional document that the Transitional Legislative Assembly shall include all the Sudanese spectrum, excluding those who participated in the government of the National Congress Party until its last day.”

“We are against exclusion, and Sudan is for all the Sudanese and any person is part of us and cannot be treated in a way that makes him feel isolated, and we do not want to repeat the errors of the past,” he said.

He stated that the reason for the inclusion of parties that have no relation with the FFC in the Legislative Assembly is to ensure presence of critical and opposing voices in parliament to evaluate the government's performance.

Parliament

As previously reported by Radio Dabanga, both the Sudanese Professionals Association and the NUP announced on Thursday that they will not take part in the upcoming government, to be established after the signing of the Constitution Declaration on August 17.

The Sudanese Professionals Association (SPA) said in a statement that it will not be part of the joint military-civilian Sovereign Council and the Cabinet of technocrats, to be selected by the Forces of Freedom and Change (FFC). The Sovereign Council will have veto power over the selection of the ministers.

The NUP, presided by El Sadig El Mahdi, has welcomed the Constitutional Declaration agreed on by the Transitional Military Council and the FFC, saying that the signing of the document on August 17 “will open the way to the formation of transitional institutions”. The party reiterated its refusal to participate in the new government. It will only take part in the Parliament.