Khartoum: Sudanese began voting on Monday in an election boycotted by the main opposition parties which looks set to extend President Omar Hassan Bashir’s more than 25 years in power.
The presidential and parliamentary polls, held on April 13-15, are the first since Sudan split with the south in 2011, losing a third of its land and nearly all of its oil production.
Voters, who tend to head to the polls later in the day, were thin on the ground in Khartoum early on Monday. Al Bashir voted in a school close to his residential compound. Surrounded by heavy security, he waved to supporters who shouted “God is greatest” as he cast his ballot.
Al Bashir has campaigned on improving the economy, in which inflation and unemployment remain high. He has also promised to maintain stability, warning against a change in government while the region is embroiled in violence from Libya to Yemen.
The boycott means voters are left to choose between Al Bashir’s National Congress Party (NCP) and a handful of relatively new groups. Government critics say these form a token opposition that does not differ from the NCP on core issues such as security and the economy.
On the ground, security forces are tackling insurgencies in Darfur and along the border with South Sudan.
One of the largest rebel groups, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) said last week it captured a truckload of ballots in the war-torn South Kordofan state as part of its campaign to prevent polling from taking place.
The government declined to confirm or deny the incident, but has said there will be no voting in South Kordofan unless security improved.
