Walk-out by 100+ Sudan MPs as 2020 Election Act passed

More than 100 members of the Sudanese National Assembly, representing 34 parties and movements, as well as the Change Alliance and independent MPs walked out of the session in which parliament passed the Electoral Act supported by the majority of its members.

In an interview with Radio Dabanga, Kamal Omar, head of the parliamentary caucus of the opposition Popular Congress Party, said that the MPs withdrew from the house because they refuse to legitimise the Electoral Act, which he described as “contrary to the outputs of the national dialogue”.

He said that “the National Congress Party (NCP) insisted on three days of the electoral process rather than one day according to the outcome of the dialogue, which opens the door wide to fraud.

The ruling NCP is also accused of obstructing the Sudanese vote in the crisis areas by relying on the civil registry instead of the census, while not allowing Sudanese in the diaspora and refugees to vote in the elections.

Omar said that the ruling party rejected in the Act the election of the governor directly from the people before retreating with the inclusion of a text on the possibility of withdrawing confidence from the governor by the Legislative Council.

Omar launched an impassioned attack on the National Congress, calling the election act treachery to implement the outputs of the dialogue in its section on the democratic transition and contrary to the simplest political and constitutional values.

He stressed that their withdrawal is an expression of their categorical rejection of the electoral act, explaining that “it was born without legitimacy and does not represent the Sudanese people and political forces”. He branded the 2020 elections as “fake”.

He called for the creation of a broad solidarity of political forces and armed movements “to move Sudan from the mentality of the NCP to the prospects of democracy”.

NUP

The National Umma Party, led by El Sadig El Mahdi, categorically rejected the Electoral Act as “an embodiment of more totalitarianism and dictatorship that would not serve the country’s interest in democratic transition”.

The party said in a statement that “the Electoral Act passed on Tuesday does not represent us nor does it reflect the will of our people, and we are not party to any elections under such an Act”.

The party stressed in its statement that there is nothing new in the new election act except more domination in response to the state of weakness of the ruling party to early ensure victory and exclusion of competitors.

It described “the passing of the Act amid the withdrawal of the parties of the National Dialogue and the Alliance of Independents, as a step expected to be in full accordance with the exclusionary and usual tyrannical ways of the ruling party”.