Khartoum, 17 April 2010
Following an invitation from the Government of the Republic of The Sudan to observe the Executive and Legislative Elections on 11-15 April 2010, the European Union Election Observation Mission (EU EOM) was established in Sudan on 28 February 2010. The Mission is headed by the Chief Observer Mrs. Veronique De Keyser, a Member of the European Parliament. A total of 134 observers from 25 member states of the European Union, as well as from Norway, Switzerland and Canada, were deployed to assess the electoral process against international standards for democratic elections and the laws of Sudan, in accordance with EU methodology and 'The Declaration of Principles for International Observers' adopted under the auspices of the United Nations in October 2005. Over the five election days observers visited 2,286 polling stations representing 13.6% of the total and observed the opening, voting, closing and the beginning of the counting process.
The EU EOM was joined by a delegation from the European Parliament, led by Ms Ana Gomes, Member of the European Parliament, which endorses this statement of preliminary findings. The EU EOM will remain in the country to observe post-electoral developments. Within two months of the conclusion of the process, a Final Report will be made public, offering the Mission's detailed evaluation of the elections and including recommendations towards improvements for future elections. The EU EOM is independent in its findings and conclusions.
Preliminary conclusions
- The election process suffered from unprecedented complexity in its design and, consequently, from confusion in its implementation. The campaign was dominated by the two ruling parties. In the north reduced competition came from a late withdrawal of the opposition and diminished expectations. In the south there was greater competition but a less controlled environment leading to more confusion, clashes and intimidation. However these elections have shown the interest of the Sudanese people in entering upon democratic transformation.
- The April 2010 elections in Sudan marked a crucial step in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), which brought decades of civil war to an end. They were the fifth competitive multi-party elections held since independence in 1956 and the first to be held in 24 years. They were long promised to the Sudanese people but delayed since July 2009. The elections were supported by the international community as part of its commitment to the CPA. The elections are administered by the National Elections Commission (NEC) which carried out the election preparations diligently, respecting most key provisions outlined in the law. Recognizing that the NEC was only established in November 2008 and that the preparations for the elections lasted only 10 months, the timely conduct of election operations is to be commended.
- The election days were mostly calm, orderly and peaceful, within a well-maintained security environment. The Sudanese people are to be congratulated on the patience and forbearance shown by their considerable voter turnout despite the challenges encountered during the polling days. Polling was administered satisfactorily in 70% of the observed cases, with noticeable disruption in a third of the remaining 30%. It required an extension of two days because of shortages, misprints and misdeliveries of election material in some parts of the country. Transparency was strengthened through the high participation of candidates' agents and domestic observers.
- These elections are held under the Interim Constitution 2005 and the National Elections Act (NEA) 2008. The electoral system provided for in that Act is highly complex and challenging, incorporating elements of proportional, absolute and relative majoritarian election formulas. Many of the difficulties encountered at opening and polling arose from this complexity and the decision to present the voters in this election with twelve ballots in the south and eight in the north.
- The legal framework in general provides a good basis for the conduct of elections in accordance with international standards and incorporates all the fundamental human rights which are relevant to elections including the freedoms of expression and association, protection for personal liberty, and the right to vote and stand for election. However, the criminal and national security laws depart from those standards by undermining free speech and campaigning rights. The provisions for complaints and appeals are incomplete and uncertain, leading to confusion between different remedies.
- The voter register was established after a registration exercise in 2009, which recorded 16,336,153 voters. A number of political parties and civil society organizations have criticized the registration process. Lack of a full audit and late publication of the final voter lists, led to their accuracy being questioned by opposition parties and civil society, especially during the polling days, where approximately 8% of the voters observed were refused ballots because their names were not on the voter lists.
- Over 16,000 candidates entered the contest including nearly 1,400 as independents. A total of 72 parties registered for the election but far fewer engaged in active campaigning. The financial assistance indicated in the National Elections Act was never provided centrally, however the Government of Southern Sudan allocated assistance to some southern opposition parties half way through the campaign period.
- The competitive nature of the campaign was reduced by unequal resourcing and treatment by the authorities as well as boycotts and late withdrawals by opposition parties in the north.
- Although there has been a proliferation of new print media and radio stations since the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement in 2005, effective pluralism in the media environment was not obtained during the election period. There are restrictions in the conditions for the establishment of independent media. The government retains a strong control over broadcasters and, to a lesser extent, over the print press.
- Progress has been made on gender equality in Sudan as a minimum of 25% of all legislative seats will be occupied by women.
- This election saw the development of the capacity of civil society: hundreds of groups, encompassing thousands of individual citizens, displayed high levels of commitment and engaged in election observation for many days. This extensive involvement by Sudanese civil society who showed great commitment particularly in domestic observation, contributed to the transparency of the electoral process.
- Civic education was well-presented with good clear messages, but it was much too little and too late to make a real contribution to voter understanding of the complex and unfamiliar electoral process.
- The EU EOM removed its observers from Darfur because insecurity rendered proper electoral observation impossible. Electoral observation could not be carried out because of the continuing state of emergency, recurring armed clashes and the impossibility of obtaining any rural electoral first hand information.
- The mission will continue its observation, closely following the completion of the counting, the establishment of preliminary results and the handling of formal complaints and appeals.
- The mission encourages the election authorities to ensure transparency of the preliminary results by publishing all polling station figures on its website and requests all electoral stakeholders to uphold the rule of law and solve contentious disputes through the remedies in the National Elections Act alone.