TheCable

The Sudanese national election commission has declared President Omar al-Bashir winner of the country’s election, which was boycotted by main opposition parties.

In February, Hassan Osman Rizig, deputy president of opposition Reform Now Movement party, announced that his party would shun the election because al-Bashir’s ruling National Congress Party (NCP) would not create a level playing ground.

“They [NCP] are ruling in the central government; they are controlling the state government and they are in charge of the money, and they are also ruling the armed forces and police forces. It’s difficult to compete with the ruling party in such election,” Rizig had said.

“We are not going to participate in this election because these elections are not fair and are not free. They are not recognised by all the internal opposition and they are not recognised also by the international community.”

Low turnout of voters made the election, which took place between April 13 and 16, to be extended by a day.

When official result of the first election since South Sudan seceded in 2011 was released, al-Bashir, who had earlier said he would not seek re-election, polled 94 percent of the vote.

Minni Minnawi, leader of the Sudan Liberation Movement, subsequently called on the international community to reject the results.

On April 20, the United States, the United Kingdom and Norway issued a joint statement, criticising “Sudan’s failure to create a free, fair, and conducive elections environment”, concluding that “the outcome of these elections cannot be considered a credible expression of the will of the Sudanese people”.

In 2010, the International Criminal Court (ICC) charged al-Bashir with crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide during a violent suppression of rebellions in Darfur.

He denied all the charges and the Sudanese government subsequently said it did not recognise the ICC.

Bashir came to power through a bloodless military coup in 1989.