Sudan elections conducted 'transparently': Arab League

KHARTOUM

The Arab League monitoring mission said Sunday that Sudan's general elections were carried out "transparently and in accordance with international standards."

"The mission has deployed 40 observers that travelled to all Sudanese states during the elections," mission head Alaa al-Zuhairi said at a press conference in Khartoum.

The observers, he added, had "visited 1,000 polling stations and monitored the tallying in 31 stations."

He went on to note that the elections were carried out "transparently and in accordance with international standards," adding that mission registered some errors with the distribution of voter lists at some polling stations.

"No security violations were registered during the days of the election due to the heavy deployment of security forces  in all Sudanese states," al-Zuhairi said.

"The mission also registered a rise in the turnout of elderly and special needs voters, and a drop in the participation of young people," he added.

On Thursday, the National Elections Commission (NEC) declared that final poll results would be announced on April 27.

The election, which kicked off Monday, was initially scheduled to end on Wednesday, but the NEC extended the vote for an additional day – to Thursday – due to low turnout on the first three days.

The elections were dogged by logistic, administrative and security difficulties, according to the electoral commission.

Some 13 million Sudanese were eligible to vote in the polls, which incumbent President Omar al-Bashir, who has ruled the country for over 25 years, is expected to win.

Voters also elected 425 members of parliament and 2,235 members of state legislative assemblies.

Many opposition parties had boycotted the vote.