African Affairs Analyst

Three days of voting began Sunday in Sudan's first competitive elections in nearly a quarter century despite repeated opposition calls to delay the vote.

In Khartoum, turnout was lighter than expected in the first few hours of voting, aside from a few enthusiastic supporters of President Omar al-Bashir.

The elections, which will run through Tuesday, are an essential part of a 2005 peace deal that ended the north-south war that killed 2 million people over 21 years. They are designed to kick-start a democratic transformation in the war-plagued nation and provide a democratically elected government to prepare for a crucial southern referendum next year

But two major political parties, including the southerners, decided to pull out fully or partially from the race, saying the process lacks credibility and elections can't be held in the western Darfur region while under a state of emergency.

They called for a delay of the vote to address their concerns. The government refused.

More than 800 international observers descended on Africa's largest country to observe the fairness of the contests, with the largest group from former U.S. President Jimmy Carter's organization. He toured a polling stations at the start of the first day.

for the second day of the elections, voting has been marked by confusion, delays and charges of fraud.

In Juba, the southern regional capital, voters said they struggled with no fewer than 12 ballot papers in the election where some 16 million voters are expected cast their ballots.

Across the country, there were long queues and chaotic scenes outside polling centres and Salva Kiir, from the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), the ruling party in the semi-autonomous south, was forced to wait 20 minutes under a tree for his polling station to open in Juba.

The opposition has made a series of complaints — that the National Election Commission is biased to the government, the ruling party has used state resources in the campaign, the number of polling stations nationwide was cut in half from 20,000, making it harder for those in remote villages to cast ballots.

Some 16 million people will vote for over 14,000 candidates for everything from president to local councils.

Voting took place amid heavy security and police have issued stern warnings that no disturbances will be tolerated on Election Day. Though the day is not a holiday, many shops in Khartoum were closed Sunday.

In the ravaged western Darfur region, rebels have called for a boycott of the election since a state of emergency exists and fighting continues.

Since 2003, this vast arid region has been the scene of a bloody conflict between the Arab-led government in Khartoum and ethnic African rebels. At least 300,000 have been killed and millions driven from their homes in a war that was marked by atrocities by pro-government Arab militias against Darfur villagers.

The ruling party, however, still campaigned strongly in the three provinces of the region, holding large campaign rallies up until the last minute.

Election posters lined the few paved roads of the regional capital of al-Fasher, showing pictures of al-Bashir, the "strong and honest leader," and inciting voters to choose the "powerful party."

International NGO’s play the game of humanitarian conditions to underrate the event

 "The legal environment for free and fair elections does not exist," Fouad Hikmat of the International Crisis Group states in a briefing paper on Darfur. "The international community should acknowledge that whoever wins will lack legitimacy."

Such statements were repeated by several international Ngo’s representatives, and have been extended in a way that might raise criticism on the real job of observers.

At the same time, human rights groups say the government "continues to oppress opposition" and "stifle the free flow of information". Sudan ranks 148th of 175 countries and territories on the 2009 Reporters without Borders Press Freedom Index and 170th out of 195 on Freedom House's 2008 Global Press Freedom Index.

 Sudanese-style and agenda of priorities

 It is easy to mock. However, the furore over the Sudanese general election is pointing the way to the political future of the country. Doubtless there will be a wailing and gnashing of teeth among Sudanese opposition parties if the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) prevails in a landslide victory in the 11-13 April presidential and parliamentary elections in Sudan as has become abundantly clear at present.

 The consensus emerging among Sudanese opposition groups is that the poll should not be seen as the end of the world. It is, however, perceived as a crucial landmark. "We have met with leading members of the NCP and they have conceded to most of our demands with the notable exception of postponing the polls until May. This is a major drawback as I believe that most Sudanese opposition groups prefer a May poll to an April one. If the NCP believes that a November poll is too far away, then at least a May election may prove to be a sensible compromise. Even if the ruling NCP wins, we will not be disenchanted. Rather we will consider the polls to be a chance for us to re-organise our rank and file and regenerate our political forces to harness the enthusiasm of our supporters for the next elections," Umma Party leader Sadig Al-Mahdi told Al-Ahram Weekly. As the Weekly went to print, however, he was non-committal about the full participation of the Umma Party in the forthcoming elections.

 Al-Mahdi stressed that the negotiations are ongoing between the NCP and several key opposition parties including the Umma Party. "Whatever the outcome, we aim at strengthening the democratic process in Sudan," Al-Mahdi insisted.

 Be that as it may, the leader of the umbrella opposition grouping Farouk Abu Eissa told the Weekly that he was disappointed with the NCP intransigence but that this does not come as a surprise for him. "The entire exercise has been a continuation of our struggle for democracy and human rights in Sudan. Our main concern is for the Sudanese government to scrap the emergency laws and especially those that pertain to detention without trial. The NCP has pledged to look into the matter, but frankly speaking we are not optimistic about the government's sincerity in keeping its promises."

Southern Sudanese forces, on the other hand, were less pre-occupied with the presidential elections that have busied northern-based parties such as the Umma Party and the Democratic Unionist Party headed by Othman Al-Mirghani.

If truth be told, the SPLM's ambiguity and vacillation in participating in the Sudanese presidential and parliamentary poll in northern Sudan say as much about the political inclination and ideological perspective of southern Sudanese in general as it does about the political situation in Sudan as a whole. The announcement that the SPLM presidential candidate Yasser Arman would not stand because his party felt that the poll would not be free and fair put the future of the 2011 Self- Determination Referendum in doubt.

 For all the passion the presidential polls inspire in northern Sudan, northern opposition groups are furious that many southern Sudanese are not particularly concerned with the results of the presidential poll. The southern Sudanese appear to be more interested in the result of the 2011 referendum that will determine whether southern Sudan will become a separate country or remain part of Sudan. The SPLM officially disputes this argument, stressing instead that the party is concerned about the unity of the country. "We are the Sudan People's Liberation Movement and not the 'Southern SPLM'. Such allegations are unavailing and dangerous not just for southern Sudan and should be discounted altogether. We withdrew from the presidential race in the north precisely because we care about the outcome of the poll in the north and we know that the result is bound to be fraudulent," Arman told the Weekly.

 The fact that Arman is dropping out of the presidential race along with other presidential candidates of the main Sudanese opposition parties bodes ill, however. He is a Muslim northerner with wide popular appeal throughout the country. His charisma and following in many northern regions of Sudan, and in particular the national capital Khartoum where many southern Sudanese displaced from two decades of war in the south reside, was guaranteed to secure him many votes in the north.

It is against this chaotic backdrop that the Sudanese political establishment, both government and opposition, are looking to the United States for indications about its true intentions, which Washington has been reluctant to make clear. US President Barack Obama's Special Envoy for Sudan Scott Gration held "crisis talks" in the Sudanese capital Khartoum with members of both the Sudanese government and the opposition as well as senior members of the National Electoral Commission.

The US has signalled that it sees no reason for the Sudanese presidential polls to be postponed. Washington's position has irked many Sudanese opposition parties. "We expected a more constructive role from the international community, and Washington's backing of Al-Bashir came as something of an unpleasant surprise as far as we are concerned," Abu Eissa conceded. The government is trying in vain to "save face".

 In some of most strategic intersections of Sudan's capital Khartoum, there are huge campaign billboards with the picture of President Omar al-Bashir, and beside him, two wedding rings.

 One is black and one is white and they are held together by a ribbon with the colours of Sudan's national flag.

 The black ring symbolises the country's south, mainly inhabited by black African tribes, while the white one represents the mainly Arab north.

 It's a message the incumbent president wants no one to miss, one he continually hyped up during a vigorous and well organised campaign that took him to most parts of the country: that he will keep the country united at whatever cost.

 The elections are a key component of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) that was signed in Kenya in 2005 and brought the war two between the south and north to an end.

 Intended to set Sudan on the path to democracy and make unity more attractive to the people of the south, the polls seem to be going against the very intentions for which they were included in the peace deal.