What Did Sudan Vote For?

Sudan held national elections in April 2010 for the first time in many years. The elections were part of the peace process which began in 2005. This paper discusses the context of the elections and the multiple problems which affected them, and at how the events of the election will affect the final stages of the peace process.

The national elections held in Sudan in April 2010 involved multiple levels of government: candidates stood for the position of national president; for the presidency of the autonomous Government of Southern Sudan; for the position of governor in each of Sudan’s 25 states; for the National Assembly; for the assembly for the autonomous Government of Southern Sudan; and for legislatures in each of the states. This was, apparently, a feast of democracy, but the elections proved to be profoundly problematic. Media reports on the elections spoke of ‘chaos’ in the first day or two, as the complex demands of these multiple ballots stretched resources and organisational capacity to the limit. Once the ballots had been cast, the process of counting came close to complete collapse. When results were finally, belatedly, declared, they showed an overwhelming victory for the two parties which rule northern and southern Sudan respectively. Other parties rejected the results entirely and observers announced that the elections did not meet international standards for freedom and fairness. The people of Sudan were supposed to be voting for a national democratic transition; instead the election entrenched the division of the country between two authoritarian regimes, and it is now widely expected that the referendum due to be held in January 2011 will –if it goes ahead– result in a vote for southern secession.