REFILE-Sudan politicians report widespread electoral fraud
(Repeats with month of election in first paragraph)
* Opposition parties complain of widespread electoral fraud
* President Bashir's party says members tortured in south
* Reports come as rift grows in coalition government
By Opheera McDoom
KHARTOUM, Nov 8 (Reuters) - Sudan's political parties accused each other of widespread fraud and intimidation as voters began to register for the oil-producing state's first multi-party elections in 24 years due in April 2010.
The reports came along with evidence of a growing rift between the two main parties in the country's coalition government, who fought each other in a two-decade civil war that ended in a faltering 2005 peace deal.
Opposition political party monitors told Reuters they had evidence of intimidation, buying of votes and other irregularities by Sudan's dominant National Congress Party (NCP), headed by President Omar Hassan al-Bashir.
The NCP dismissed the allegations and accused its junior coalition partner, the former southern rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), of trying to sabotage the election, saying NCP supporters had been tortured in the south.
The SPLM and 20 opposition parties have threatened to boycott the elections if a long overdue package of democratic laws is not passed. They walked out of parliament last month.
Bickering between the NCP and SPLM boiled over at a U.N.-sponsored meeting last week with witnesses saying relations were at their worst since the 2005 deal shared wealth and power in Africa's largest state.
The 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement created the coalition government and gave the south a vote on independence in 2011. SPLM head Salva Kiir made his first public call for secession a week ago.
U.S. Sudan envoy Scott Gration has failed to persuade the former enemies to reach a resolution after extending last week's trip to the country to hold three days of intensive talks.
"The (NCP) are using government resources for their campaign," said opposition Umma Party official Mariam al-Mahdi.
She told Reuters her observers had seen many cases of faked papers and other fraud. "We are going to double up efforts in the coming week to collect this (evidence)," she said.
Sudan's elections have already been delayed until April 2010, from July 2009, but the country's elections commission is still struggling to meet deadlines.
Registration made a slow start on Nov. 1 with an information blackout in Khartoum and confusion outside the capital.
The SPLM said the NCP was bussing in hundreds of people without identity cards to register at centres where they are not resident. An SPLM monitor had been offered a bribe to turn a blind eye and had refused to take it.
"If there is no registration this (electoral process) will be a failure," said SPLM head in Khartoum Bol Ring.
NCP officials dismissed the reports saying they would not tolerate any electoral violations by party members.
Late on Saturday the NCP launched a scathing attack on the SPLM, accusing it of arresting, torturing and intimidating NCP members trying to register in the south, saying the threatened boycott was a veiled attempt to sabotage the election.
"They don't want this election...because they know they will lose in the south and in the north," presidential assistant Nafie Ali Nafie told a press conference. "There is no political will on the side of the SPLM," he added.
SPLM officials said they wold look into any reports of irregularities by their members.
Sudan's north-south civil war claimed some 2 million lives and drove 4 million from their homes, destabilising the region. (Editing by Louise Ireland)
* Opposition parties complain of widespread electoral fraud
* President Bashir's party says members tortured in south
* Reports come as rift grows in coalition government
By Opheera McDoom
KHARTOUM, Nov 8 (Reuters) - Sudan's political parties accused each other of widespread fraud and intimidation as voters began to register for the oil-producing state's first multi-party elections in 24 years due in April 2010.
The reports came along with evidence of a growing rift between the two main parties in the country's coalition government, who fought each other in a two-decade civil war that ended in a faltering 2005 peace deal.
Opposition political party monitors told Reuters they had evidence of intimidation, buying of votes and other irregularities by Sudan's dominant National Congress Party (NCP), headed by President Omar Hassan al-Bashir.
The NCP dismissed the allegations and accused its junior coalition partner, the former southern rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), of trying to sabotage the election, saying NCP supporters had been tortured in the south.
The SPLM and 20 opposition parties have threatened to boycott the elections if a long overdue package of democratic laws is not passed. They walked out of parliament last month.
Bickering between the NCP and SPLM boiled over at a U.N.-sponsored meeting last week with witnesses saying relations were at their worst since the 2005 deal shared wealth and power in Africa's largest state.
The 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement created the coalition government and gave the south a vote on independence in 2011. SPLM head Salva Kiir made his first public call for secession a week ago.
U.S. Sudan envoy Scott Gration has failed to persuade the former enemies to reach a resolution after extending last week's trip to the country to hold three days of intensive talks.
"The (NCP) are using government resources for their campaign," said opposition Umma Party official Mariam al-Mahdi.
She told Reuters her observers had seen many cases of faked papers and other fraud. "We are going to double up efforts in the coming week to collect this (evidence)," she said.
Sudan's elections have already been delayed until April 2010, from July 2009, but the country's elections commission is still struggling to meet deadlines.
Registration made a slow start on Nov. 1 with an information blackout in Khartoum and confusion outside the capital.
The SPLM said the NCP was bussing in hundreds of people without identity cards to register at centres where they are not resident. An SPLM monitor had been offered a bribe to turn a blind eye and had refused to take it.
"If there is no registration this (electoral process) will be a failure," said SPLM head in Khartoum Bol Ring.
NCP officials dismissed the reports saying they would not tolerate any electoral violations by party members.
Late on Saturday the NCP launched a scathing attack on the SPLM, accusing it of arresting, torturing and intimidating NCP members trying to register in the south, saying the threatened boycott was a veiled attempt to sabotage the election.
"They don't want this election...because they know they will lose in the south and in the north," presidential assistant Nafie Ali Nafie told a press conference. "There is no political will on the side of the SPLM," he added.
SPLM officials said they wold look into any reports of irregularities by their members.
Sudan's north-south civil war claimed some 2 million lives and drove 4 million from their homes, destabilising the region. (Editing by Louise Ireland)
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