United States: ‘Elections were not free and fair’

Sudan’s election was not free and fair, said the spokesman of the US State Department. Philip Crowley, Assistant Secretary, told reporters in Washington that “we’ve had longstanding concerns about the environment leading up to the election. This was not a free and fair election. It did not, broadly speaking, meet international standards. That’s been clear in the comments that have been done by the Carter Center, the EU, and the AU (African Union) over the past couple of days.”

The Carter Center monitoring mission in its preliminary report had noted "important flaws" including logistical problems, constraints on political freedoms, repression of civil liberties, insecurity that kept observers from wide areas of the country, deliberate manipulation of illiterate voters, lack of safeguards of the process, problems with ink, ballots, ballot box seals, the identification process, intimidation and state interference in campaigning in the South. 

important flaws and found that the process fell short of Sudan‟s obligations and related international standards in a number of respects.

The United States had contributed $100 million to fund preparations for the election. It supported the voting as part of its support for the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA). The United States along with Norway and the United Kingdom are guarantors of the CPA. In light of this, American diplomats have also emphasized positive aspects of the election.

Crowley recognized the election as “a very important step in terms of implementation of the CPA.” He was speaking soon after President Barack Obama met on Tuesday with his advisor and envoy to Sudan, Scott Gration.

Norway, UK and USA released a joint statement on 19 April commending the people of Sudan “for their engagement in a complex and lengthy polling process.” The statement nonetheless noted that the elections failed to meet international standards, according to international observers.