Brief history of elections in Sudan | http://www.splmtoday.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=353&Itemid=59
Friday, 20 November 2009 11:38
BRIEF HISTORY OF ELECTIONS IN SUDAN
The first Parliamentary elections: 1953
Sudanese voted in the first parliamentary elections in the country in 1953, some three years before Sudan got its independence from British rule.
Five political parties participated in the polls, namely:
• The National Unionist Party
• The Umma Party
• The Southern Bloc
• The Republican Socialist Party
• The Anti-Colonialist Front
The National Unionist Party won an overwhelming majority of 51 seats and this enabled it to form a government on its own.
There were 97 constituencies.
The process passed off with virtually no incident, with voters expressing satisfaction and no serious objections were raised except with the results for one constituency where complaint was logged with the Elections Commission over irregularities at a center in the constituency.
However, an investigation carried into the allegations proved they were baseless.
The second parliamentary elections: 1958
Sudan’s 1956 constitution stipulated that state institutions established after the 1953 elections such as the parliament, council of ministers, judiciary, civil service committee and auditor general continue to function until the election of a constituent assembly.
This was scheduled for August 1957, according to Article 56 of the 1956 constitution.
But the ruling council at the time used its powers and postponed the vote to February 1958, saying heavy rains and floods would obstruct the process if elections were to be held in August 1956.
The elections resulted in a victory for the Umma Party, which won 63 seats.
The People’s Democratic Party got 26 seats, the National Unionist Party 44 and the Southern Free Party 40.
The outcome of the elections marked the beginning of the formation of coalition governments in the Sudan, as none of the six parties that contested won enough votes to form a government on its own.
Third parliamentary elections: 1965
Six political parties contested in the third parliamentary elections held in 1965 and these were:
• The National Unionist Party - 73 seats.
• The Umma Party - 92 seats.
• The Islamic Charter Front - 5 seats.
• The Sudanese Communist Party - 11 seats.
• The Beja Congress – 10 seats.
The fourth parliamentary elections: 1968
Some 22 political parties and regional or tribal blocs participated in these elections, the most important being:
• The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP)
• The two wings of the Umma Party (one led by Al Sadiq and the other by Al Hadi)
• Sudan African National Union (SANU)
• The Islamic Charter Front
• The Beja Congress
• Southern Front
The votes were essentially split among these parties, with no single party gaining enough votes to form a government on its own.
The DUP, which was established as a result of a merger between National Unionist Party and the People’s Democratic Party, won 101 seats, more than any other party that contested the elections.
The two wings of the Umma came second with a combined total of 72 seats.
The fifth parliamentary elections: 1986
The 1986 elections were held after the fall of Field Marshal Jaffar Mohammed Numeiry, who seized power in a 1969 military coup and ruled the country until he was ejected in a popular uprising in 1985.
A number of political parties took part in the polls and they included:
• The Umma Party
• The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP)
• National Islamic Front (NIF)
• The Sudan National Party
• The Arab Socialist Baath Party
• The Sudan African Congress
• The Sudanese Communist Party
The Umma Party, the DUP and NIF won the majority of the seats in these elections. Still, none was able to form a government on its own and the Umma formed several coalition governments with either the DUP or NIF between 1986 and 1989.
