Bashir party asks rivals to join Sudan government

Internally displaced people travel on a truck to a polling station at ZamZam IDP's camp in Al Fasher, northern Darfur, April 12, 2010.

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudan's ruling party on Wednesday offered an olive branch to opposition groups boycotting the country's elections, saying it would invite them to join the government if it won the vote.

The country is four days into presidential and legislative polls intended to help restore democracy in the oil-producing state more than two decades after a military-led coup.

Doubt was cast on the elections' credibility after some parties boycotted large parts of the voting, threatening protests and accusing incumbent president Omar Hassan al-Bashir and his northern National Congress Party (NCP) of vote-rigging.

Analysts say the boycotts undermined Bashir's plans to show he could win a competitive ballot to fend off International Criminal Court charges against him over war crimes in Darfur.

"If we are declared winners in the elections ... we would extend the invitation to all parties, even those who have not participated in the elections, to join the government because we believe this is a critical moment in our history," senior NCP official Ghazi Salaheddin told reporters.

"We are facing important decisions like self-determination in the south and would like to garner as much support and as much consensus as we can."

Bashir's rivals gave a mixed reaction to the offer, which did not specify what parts they might play in a new government.

The elections were set up under a 2005 peace accord that ended more than two decades of north-south civil war and also promised southerners a referendum in January 2011 on whether they should declare independence.

The overwhelming majority of southerners are believed to favor separation. However, many have warned there is a risk of conflict in the build-up to the vote.

Bashir's NCP and other northern parties have vowed to campaign against separation, with some analysts saying the north is reluctant to lose control of oilfields in the south.

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Salaheddin said the offer to join the new "inclusive" government was made to all parties, mentioning in particular the opposition Umma, which is boycotting most voting, and the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), which threatened a boycott then re-joined the race.

"Any politician in his right mind would not decline such an offer," he said in a recording of the briefing to journalists heard by Reuters.

Umma gave the offer a cautious welcome, saying it was interested in holding talks with the NCP and other parties, although it was too early to commit to joining a coalition.

"Let us talk about dialogue first, how to solve Sudan's problems," said Umma vice-president Fadlalla Burma Nasir.

Salaheddin's statement was dismissed by Yasir Arman, the former presidential candidate for the south's dominant Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), who pulled out of the race last month along with most of the party's northern candidates.

Arman accused the NCP of jumping the gun by offering deals before the results were known. "This is proof that they know the results in advance ... We don't need an invitation from Ghazi."

The SPLM, predicted to win most positions in south Sudan, was always likely to join a coalition after the election. Under Sudan's constitution, the president of south Sudan automatically becomes first vice president of the whole country.

There were further signs of confusion in the voting, which is due to end on Thursday.

The National Elections Commission said it was considering re-running ballots in a few constituencies to correct errors in voting forms.

Youth activism group Girifna said NCP officials beat and detained two of its members as they investigated voting irregularities in the Khartoum district of Um Bedda on Wednesday.

(Editing by Andrew Dobbie)