South Darfur politicians demand more parliament seats

A number of political parties in South Darfur will boycott the state’s elections in April 2015, should the number of seats in the state’s parliament not be increased from 48 to 71. Abakar El Tom, secretary general of the Democratic Unionist Party branch in South Darfur, told Radio Dabanga that 12 political parties in South Darfur state, as well as the rebel signatories of the Darfur peace agreement, filed a legal appeal to the National Electoral Commission on Wednesday. “They demand the Commission reconsider the allocation of 48 parliament seats for South Darfur state.” El Tom explained that they base their demand on the national census of 2008. “The results of the census proved that with its population of about four million people, South Darfur state is the large second state in Sudan, after Khartoum state. Furthermore, South Darfur has a large ethnic diversity that should be reflected in its parliament.” File photo:  Nyala, capital of South Darfur, by night (Hamid Abdelsalam/Unamid)