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The big losers in Sudan's flawed election are the abused and ignored people of Darfur
Nafie declared that overall participation of Darfuris in the election process would be high, and stated, “Darfuris will vote for the NCP,” promising the crowd that “Darfur will find salvation after an NCP victory.”
Perhaps for different reasons, the head of the AU Observer Mission in Sudan and former president of Ghana John Kufuor said he believed the people of Darfur generally appreciated what he referred to as “the institution of election.”
Even those who boycotted the vote or complained about irregularities, he said, believed the election is a “necessary beginning” for the country’s more positive future.
It is therefore unfortunate that Darfur has been robbed of its participation in this national milestone. The Carter Centre determined two days after the polls closed, “With respect to Darfur, the Centre cannot endorse elections in the region as meeting national or international standards.”
The “legal and security conditions” in Darfur necessary for political activity to be freely conducted were not realised in advance of the polls, and are now unlikely to be fulfilled, leaving many in fear of what’s next for the troubled region.
Nevertheless, Bashir’s government will soon declare an overwhelming victory in all of Sudan. It will declare that, despite decades of war and repression, it has earned a mandate from the people it governs, and the citizens it has oppressed will somehow find salvation in its continuing reign.
Bashir will confidently excuse his ICC indictment, while the world — desperate to move on to the next chapter in Sudan’s transformation — will very probably accept the results.
The reality is that these elections have effectively pushed Darfur further into the margins, and amid renewed fears have deprived its people of true leadership.
Sean Brooks is a policy analyst at the Save Darfur Coalition; he recently returned from a month-long trip to Sudan. Celeste Robinson specialises in security and civilian protection in Africa.
