Gedaref elections: a step on the way towards 2015

I visited Gedaref last weekend, mainly to witness the election for a new Governor.

It wasn’t a formal observation mission (we’re not staffed for that). We did however support a  Sudanese NGO which made a  good job of systematic observation. For me it was more a question of getting a feel for how elections happen here. Sudan has big elections coming up in 2015 of course.

We’re keen to help to make them a success and have already begun to discuss with Sudanese partners how we can best contribute. So the visit to Gedaref was in part to inform our planning for 2015.

There was a lot of bustle in Gedaref. We saw some big, modern agricultural machinery on the road en route to the agricultural fair that opened the following day. It’s clear that, with its strong agricultural productivity and good transport links, Gedaref should play a major part in the restructuring and development of the Sudanese economy.

But there wasn’t much bustle in the polling stations. It’s always difficult to interest voters in by-elections. In this case, in particular, there will be elections for a new Governor again in only 2 years’ time. Still, the turnout in the dozen or so polling stations we visited was only around 15% and in the election as a whole about 21%, which is very low.

Part of the problem may have been a lack of options. The governing Party was of course out in force and polled well. But the principal opposition Parties declined to participate, and the smaller parties and independents didn’t have time or resources to make an impact.

There are reasons for this. The Opposition Parties feel that the elections are not a level playing field. Wehave made clear our belief in the need for more political space and greater toleration of political diversity. Elections are not just about what happens on the day.

Parties and voters need to be allowed time and space to debate and develop ideas and to organise. They need the confidence to know they will be allowed to exercise their democratic rights. In that respect, the temporary arrest the following day of some demonstrators protesting about aspects of the elections is a cause of concern.

Nonetheless, engagement is the essence of democracy. People need options in order to be able to exercise democratic choices. And, at a technical level, Parties need to practise and learn from their experiences in order to be able to perform effectively in the big election year of 2015.

One obvious technical weakness was voter registration. The current list is out of date and many voters did not come with official identification. Sometimes voter registration depended on the village elders or the polling station officials vouching for the voters’ identity.

So there is some work to be done on preparing a new list and ensuring that voters have authoritative identification for 2015. I know that this is a high priority for the Chair of the National Election Commission (with whom I have discussed it). The European Union, to which of course we are a major contributor, is running a capacity building programme with the National Election Commission which will help with drawing up a new electoral register.

The Deputy Chair of the local Election Commission was welcoming and gave me a good brief. So too were the polling station officials, during both voting and the count. I know that there were some shortcomings but at the polling stations I visited the officials were courteous, experienced, and  firm when they needed to be in dealing with challenges from voters and Party agents. Something to build on for 2015.