International

Sudan’s concludes first multi-party election in 24 years

Molly Burns

Monday, April 26th 2010- Sudan’s current president Omar al-Bashir has been declared the winner of the country’s elections in the north, even though he has recently being charged with war crimes in Darfur by the ICC. The elections were the first multiparty elections in 24 years, as well as the first since the war between the north and south part of the country ended. While the election commission of Sudan has reported that Bashir won with 68% of the vote, opposition party leaders have claimed the elections were unfair. The president’s two main challengers withdrawing even before the election began, claiming it had already been corrupted. With his election, Bashir is the first head of state in histroy to be charged with war crimes by the ICC and still be reelected. In the south, President of the government of Southern Sudan Salva Kiir Mayardit will retain his post as president after winning 93 percent of the vote.

• ICC (International Criminal Court): Created in 2002, an authority responsible for prosecuting individuals involved with genocide, war crimes, or crimes against humanity and is used when national courts are unwilling or unable to prosecute those crimes.
• Referendum: A direct vote in which an entire electorate (in this case citizens of southern Sudan) is asked to either accept or reject a particular proposal.

• Argument for: Bashir has said he would recognize the results of a referendum among citizens in Sudan’s south to secede from Sudan, which is largely divided by the mainly Christian south and largely Muslim north.
• Argument against: Bashir’s capability to rule the country successfully is questionable, due to the fact that the genocide in Sudan occurred during his presidency.

Additional Reading:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/26/AR2010042603867.html

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8643602.stm

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/27/world/africa/27sudan.html?ref=africa