Opposition criticises ‘flawed’ Sudanese Lawyers’ Syndicate elections

On Wednesday, the result of the Sudanese Lawyers’ Syndicate elections was announced. The ruling National Congress Party (NCP) candidate, Tayeb Haroun, was elected as chairman of the Syndicate and its Central Committee. The National List of Lawyers supported by the NCP beat the list of the ‘Democratic Lawyers’ of the opposition. An initial comment on the election results was given by the leader of the opposition alliance, who stated that the results “do not reflect the desire of Sudanese lawyers”. “The entire electoral process was accompanied by many violations. Some names of voters were forged, while some people were allowed to vote although they have nothing to do with our profession,” commenting that “the current syndicate has used all the means of the state for its own interests”. On Tuesday, the Darfur Bar Association called for the establishment of an independent professional lawyers’ syndicate, in a statement received by Radio Dabanga. The Darfur Bar Association appealed to “all Sudanese lawyers to form an independent professional syndicate, tasked with recovering the role, lost by the existing syndicate, as a platform for the restoration of democracy and the entire country”. The Darfur lawyers considered participation in the Sudanese Lawyers’ Syndicate elections as “only serving the National Congress Party, which isolates its own people with its false agendas aiming to legitimise its false branches”. (Source: altaghyeer.info)                                                                         File photo Related: Darfur lawyers call for boycott of ‘rigged’ Bar elections (25 December 2013)