Sudan: South Kordofan Goes to the Polls

By Eunice Kilonzo

Kadugli---Polling of the legislative and executive complementary elections in Sudan's South Kordofan State started Monday, May 1 2011 amid concerns that the elections could lead to armed conflicts between the north and south Sudan. The elections maintain great importance as the oil-rich South Kordofan State is placed as a war scene between the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) and the National Congress Party (NCP) for over two decades. This is besides its position as a commercial gateway and a social bond between the north and south Sudan.

Over 600,000 voters are expected to head to the polling stations to select a state governor from among three candidates, Ahmed Haroun from the NCP, Abdul-Aziz Al-Hilo from the SPLM and independent candidate Telephone Koko.

Head of the state's higher elections committee Adam Abdin Ismail told reporters Monday that the committee has received all the necessary materials and the National Elections Commission (NEC) has trained 32 polling officers for the geographical constituencies and 666 chairpersons for 555 constituencies.

He stressed the keenness of the state's election committee to conduct fair and transparent elections, explaining that the NEC has issued 10,000 monitor cards for local political parties and 37 cards for foreign observers supervised by the Carter Center. The Sudanese Interior Ministry reiterated its readiness to secure the polling process in South Kordofan State.

"The police authorities are ready to perform its duty in preserving security," said General Hashim Osman Al-Hussein, Director General of the Sudanese police said.

The NCP candidate Haroun, called on all parties to work together so that the complementary elections would be a new station to enhance the peace in the state and pave the way for a smooth and active popular consultation that would help in sustaining the standing peace. In a statement issued on Monday, Haroun reiterated the importance that everybody exercises the electoral right freely and calmly and away from violence.

Expectations are high that Haroun would win the elections. Observers attributed the high expectations to reasons such as Haroun's character and popularity, and the injustice and marginalization the Nuba citizens inside the SPLM have suffered.

However, the observers are concerned that the complementary elections in South Kordofan State would lead to an armed conflict between the SPLM and the NCP, particularly when both parties would not accept to lose control over the state. Since the beginning of the electoral campaigns, the SPLM has directly warned the NCP against frauds in the elections and hinted the possibility of returning to conflicts in case of frauds.

The SPLM Chairman in North Sudan, Blue Nile State's Governor Malik Aqar, accused last week the NCP of attempting to ignite conflicts again without calculating its consequences. In a response to the Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir’s warning to the SPLM to accept the election results, Aqar said during a campaign for the SPLM candidate that if the war broke again, the SPLM would not be at the marginal areas but in Sudanese capital Khartoum. Interior Minister, Engineer Ibrahim Mahmoud Hamid emphasized, ''The exercise is a unique lesson on the democratic process.''

Southern Kordofan is a tense place: it contains the Nuba Mountains where hundreds of thousands of Nuba, who define themselves as African, are hostile to the Arab elite in Khartoum.