Sudan Peoples Liberation Movement (SPLM) has complained that a good
number of names of its supporters are missing from the voters’ list. This comes only a week away from various elections earmarked to take place in southern Sudan.
SPLM has accused the National elections Commission (NEC) for not including the names of its supporters on the voters list.
SPLM cliams that in the eastern Equatoria state of southern Sudan, about 11,000 names are missing from the voters list. It accuses the State High Elections Committee of not publishing the missing voters’ names.
The SPLM official Felix Okanyi Remijo, said “A good number of people do not know their voting status because their names have not been displayed on the voters list. Over 11,000 people’s names are not on voters list yet they were registered.”
But the Chairman of the Equatoria State High Elections Committee, Joseph Ojuko, refuted the claims saying that the names were displayed in the first phase of exhibition. He said that more names will be displayed as they are sent to them by the national Elections commission.
Ojuko accused the National Elections Commission (NEC) for not sending the final list of voters from Khartoum and denied allegations that voters’ names are missing.
SPLM Secretariat has called for an immediate intervention of stakeholders into the matter before it worsens.
Meanwhile, the Sudan Tribune has reported that a statement published on Sunday by the Southern Sudan-based The Citizen newspaper, revealed SPLM presidential candidate, Yasir Arman, as suggesting that “the present political atmosphere is unfavorable for conducting free and fair elections.”
According to the newspaper, SPLM fears a “possible rigging of the elections by the National Congress Party (NCP),” and has “expressed annoyance at printing the polling cards in Sudan and criticized the National Elections Commission (NEC) for its failure to block those unfavorable procedures.”
Mr. Arman also, reportedly, “lamented that cards have been printed in the local money mint in Khartoum instead of printing them in South Africa, Slovenia and Britain as previously arranged.” But the NEC which claims to have involved the participation of UNMIS elections office, has rejected the claims.
Sunday, 17 parties, with the exception of SPLM and the Popular Congress Party (PCP) , were also reported issuing an ultimatum for the postponement of the elections.
