The Secretary of Political Affairs in the National Congress Party, NCP, Mr Ibrahim Ghandour, told Miraya FM, that an agreement has been reached to add one additional article to the Referendum Bill in order to explain where southerners should vote. He declined to elaborate further on the text of the article. On Abyei, he said it was a 'complex issue with different blocks having different opinions, but, in the end, Parliament will decide on the issue through a majority vote'.
Ghandour said that NCP parliamentary bloc is committed to the deal reached concerning the modification and other bills currently tabled at the National Assembly. However, vehemently denied any chance of modifying the recently endorsed national security Bill which he said there was an agreement on.
On the other hand, the Secretary General of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement, SPLM, Mr Pagan Amum, said that the party bloc will return to the assembly in order to pass the Southern Sudan and Abyei Referendum Bills in addition to the two public consultation bills for Southern Kordufan and Blue Nile areas before the end of this month. He added that voting centers will be opened for each 20,000 southerners, including north Sudan and outside it, and if the number was les than that, the center will be opened in the capital of the state or county. He said that the right of all southerners to vote is guaranteed.