Sudan opposition demand more time to register voters
* Opposition call for 2-week extension of voter registration
* Parties report widespread voter registration fraud
By Opheera McDoom
KHARTOUM, Nov 16 (Reuters) - Sudan's opposition parties on Monday called for a nationwide two-week extension to register voters for the first multi-party elections in 24 years, accusing elections officials of being ill-prepared for the vote.
The former rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) and 20 opposition parties said an information black out and last-minute preparations by the election commission was preventing Sudanese from registering to vote.
"We are asking the National Elections Commission to extend the registration period for two weeks," Abdel Gayoum Awad from the Sudanese Congress Party said in a joint news conference.
The SPLM signed north-south peace deal in 2005 ending more than two decades of civil war. But delays in implementing the deal have raised tensions with less than five months until the multi-party elections which will be followed by a referendum on southern independence in 2011.
The opposition parties have previously said they would boycott the elections if a package of democratic laws they see as necessary for the vote was not drafted and passed by Nov. 30.
And on Monday they accused President Omar Hassan al-Bashir's National Congress Party (NCP) of widespread registration fraud.
The NCP has denied any irregularities and accused the SPLM of arresting its members in the semi-autonomous south.
Many Sudanese have said that NCP officials have either taken their registration slips or recorded the numbers, as well as calling with offers to buy their votes.
The registration began on Nov. 1 and is to last one month.
"The NCP is also using government resources," said Mariam al-Mahdi from the opposition Umma Party.
"These problems ... are because of the lack of democratic transformation," said Yasir Arman from the SPLM.
The parties also complained the diaspora registration was not being monitored by elections officials and that very few centres were opened, with only one in Asia.
"It is well known that those outside Sudan left because of problems ... and they will all vote against the NCP," the Communist Party's elections head Siddig Yousif said.
He added that if the registration process were not credible, it would endanger the elections and opposition parties could ask for it to be re-done, causing major delays.
From May until November the rainy season would render much of Sudan inaccessible and any departure from the April vote would encroach on the southern referendum due in January 2011, which the south has said is non-negotiable.
The parties urged the elections commission to address the widespread fraud, saying it had "totally failed" to inform Sudanese of their democratic right to vote.
Sudan's north-south war claimed 2 million lives and drove more than 4 million from their homes, destabilising much of east Africa. (Editing by Jon Hemming)
* Parties report widespread voter registration fraud
By Opheera McDoom
KHARTOUM, Nov 16 (Reuters) - Sudan's opposition parties on Monday called for a nationwide two-week extension to register voters for the first multi-party elections in 24 years, accusing elections officials of being ill-prepared for the vote.
The former rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) and 20 opposition parties said an information black out and last-minute preparations by the election commission was preventing Sudanese from registering to vote.
"We are asking the National Elections Commission to extend the registration period for two weeks," Abdel Gayoum Awad from the Sudanese Congress Party said in a joint news conference.
The SPLM signed north-south peace deal in 2005 ending more than two decades of civil war. But delays in implementing the deal have raised tensions with less than five months until the multi-party elections which will be followed by a referendum on southern independence in 2011.
The opposition parties have previously said they would boycott the elections if a package of democratic laws they see as necessary for the vote was not drafted and passed by Nov. 30.
And on Monday they accused President Omar Hassan al-Bashir's National Congress Party (NCP) of widespread registration fraud.
The NCP has denied any irregularities and accused the SPLM of arresting its members in the semi-autonomous south.
Many Sudanese have said that NCP officials have either taken their registration slips or recorded the numbers, as well as calling with offers to buy their votes.
The registration began on Nov. 1 and is to last one month.
"The NCP is also using government resources," said Mariam al-Mahdi from the opposition Umma Party.
"These problems ... are because of the lack of democratic transformation," said Yasir Arman from the SPLM.
The parties also complained the diaspora registration was not being monitored by elections officials and that very few centres were opened, with only one in Asia.
"It is well known that those outside Sudan left because of problems ... and they will all vote against the NCP," the Communist Party's elections head Siddig Yousif said.
He added that if the registration process were not credible, it would endanger the elections and opposition parties could ask for it to be re-done, causing major delays.
From May until November the rainy season would render much of Sudan inaccessible and any departure from the April vote would encroach on the southern referendum due in January 2011, which the south has said is non-negotiable.
The parties urged the elections commission to address the widespread fraud, saying it had "totally failed" to inform Sudanese of their democratic right to vote.
Sudan's north-south war claimed 2 million lives and drove more than 4 million from their homes, destabilising much of east Africa. (Editing by Jon Hemming)
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