Khartaum, April 16: Sudan’s landmark election ended on Thursday with the near-certain re-election of President Omar al-Beshir, which one aide said would show voters did not believe accusations of war crimes against him.
Polling stations closed at 6:00 pm (1500 GMT) but those left inside were allowed to vote. Counting will begin on Friday and partial results could be announced on the same day.
Sudan’s first multi-party election in more than two decades sought to restore Beshir’s stature after the International Criminal Court issued a warrant against him in March 2009.
Beshir is accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity in the war-torn western region of Darfur, where a seven-year civil war has left around 300,000 people dead, according to UN figures. Khartoum puts the death toll at 10,000.
“The re-election of Beshir would show beyond doubt that people are refusing these false accusations, they are undermining it, they are not respecting it, particularly Darfurians,” Nafie Ali Nafie told a group of reporters.
A win “will put some sense into those who have been supporting the ICC.
“I expect that it will strengthen very strongly countries and people who have been supporting the cause of Sudan, and definitely undermine the political and public support for those who have been supporting Ocampo,” Nafie said.
Luis-Moreno Ocampo is the ICC prosecutor who secured the warrant against Beshir.
Some 16 million registered voters had been asked to choose their president as well as legislative and local representatives. Southerners were also asked to vote for the head of the semi-autonomous government of the south.
The vote kicked off in chaos on Sunday, with delays and logistical problems prompting the National Election Commission to extend polling by two days to end on Thursday.
Polling stations opened late, ballot boxes went to the wrong stations and names were missing or misspelled on registration lists.
Voting was suspended in 17 national constituencies and 16 regional ones.
The election proceeded relatively calmly but there were fears that clashes would erupt in the more fiercely contested areas.
Lam Akol, the only rival for southern leadership to incumbent Salva Kiir, accused the southern army of killing two of his party’s representatives in Unity state.
Nine people were also killed in clashes in the southern state of Bahr al-Ghazal, but officials said the killings were not politically motivated.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon congratulated all those who took part in the elections, “which, despite the reported irregularities and opposition boycotts, took place without any major incident of violence.”
Ban “calls on all political leaders and their supporters to refrain from actions that could jeopardize the peaceful conclusion of the electoral process,” a UN statement said.
“Electoral grievances should be addressed through appropriate legal and institutional channels and reviewed in a fair and transparent manner.”
Before polling began, the election’s credibility had already been marred by a boycott by the opposition, including the heavyweight Umma Party, whose leader Sadiq al-Mahdi was meant to challenge Beshir in the presidential race.
The SPLM, partners in a national unity government, boycotted the vote in most northern states and withdrew their candidate for national president, Yasser Arman.
With both key challengers out of the way, Beshir looks set for a comfortable win.
By contrast, the legislative and local polls were still fiercely competitive in many parts of the country.
The boycott was announced after ballot papers had been printed, leaving the possibility open for individual candidates to run and win at the legislative and local levels, despite a boycott by their parties.
On Wednesday, presidential adviser Ghazi Salaheddin said that if elected, his party would invite the opposition to join a future government in a bid to make the system as “inclusive” as possible.
But on Thursday, Nafie added that the opposition would have to recognise the result of the election.
The election is a prelude to a 2011 referendum on southern independence that was agreed as part of the deal bringing an end in 2005 to civil war between the north and the south.
—Agencies