Khartoum, March 11: European Union election observers in Sudan said on Thursday they are confident of being able to detect any irregularities in next month’s multiparty polls, the country’s first since 1986.
The European Union’s mission comprises 138 observers, 58 of whom are already in Sudan, with another 80 to arrive just before the legislative, regional and presidential elections slated to take place from April 11 to 13.
They will be deployed across Africa’s largest country, covering 2.5 million square kilometres (1.6 million square miles) and divided into 25 states, to help monitor 26,500 polling stations.
” It is obvious we cannot cover each voting centre,” the EU mission’s chief observer Veronique De Keyser said at a press conference in Khartoum.
“We will draw our conclusions not only from observation, but from the tendency in a place and from a strict observation of the data,” she added.
“We have a lot of confidence in our conclusions from a statistical point of view… We will be very strict, sticking to the facts and being vigilant about whatever could happen during the electoral process.”
The EU mission will coordinate its work with the Carter Foundation, another international body authorised to observe the Sudanese electoral process, but its conclusions would remain independent, De Keyser said.
Sudan’s President Omar al-Beshir, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur, has a head start in the presidential race due to his access to state media, his opponents say.
Two of his main rivals, Yassir Arman and Sadiq al-Mahdi, have already criticised the role of state media in the election, with Mahdi saying he was asked to alter a 20-minute speech he recorded for national radio earlier this month because it touched on sensitive issues.
De Keyser said it was not the role of the EU mission to interfere in Sudanese politics.
Arman is a secular Muslim from North Sudan who represents southern ex-rebel group the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement. Mahdi heads the influential Umma party and was elected prime minister in 1986 before Beshir ousted him in a coup three years later.
–Agencies