SUDAN: Durable solutions elusive as southern IDPs return and ...

Family Life, Participation, Access to Justice, Documentation and
other Civil and Political Rights
Civil and political rights
Voting and participation in public affairs
Under the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement, local, state and national elections were
scheduled to take place by July 2009 at the latest, but these had been postponed several times
and finally happened in April 2010 (ICG, 17 December 2009, p.3). The National Election Act was
passed in July 2008, and the National Election Commission was appointed in late 2008. A
national census, which was meant to have been completed by July 2007, was held in April/May
2008, but the results were not released until May 2009 and were rejected by the Government of
Southern Sudan, Southern Kordofan and JEM (ICG, 17 December 2009, p.3). The outcomes of
the census were highly important because they have been used as the basis for re-demarcation
of administrative boundaries and relocation of electoral constituencies for the April 2010 elections
(DRDC, February 2010, p.10).
The September 2008 report by the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the
Sudan stated:
"The fifth national census in the Sudan conducted from 22 April to 6 May 2008 received widely
differing reactions around the country with some stating it had been successful and others
complaining of underrepresentation of certain elements of the population. In Darfur, the census
operation went ahead despite the opposition of all non-signatories to the Darfur Peace
Agreement and the Minni Minawi faction of the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA). Internally displaced
persons (IDPs) resisted enumeration in a number of camps despite attempts by the United
Nations and the international community to break the impasse, and areas in Western Darfur
bordering Chad and Southern Darfur remained inaccessible to enumerators owing to the
prevailing insecurity. Government officials reported a coverage rate of 85 per cent in Western
Darfur and 90 per cent in Northern and Southern Darfur. The National Population Council has
announced that it will estimate the number of people not reached by enumerators on the basis of
the 1993 census results" (Human Rights Council, 2 September 2008, para.15; see also Sudan
Tribune, 31 March 2008; and Reuters, 22 April 2008).
In March 2009, the US Institute of Peace published a report which examined the prospects for
elections in Darfur. The report stated:
pp.4-5:
"The election law presents particular problems for Sudan’s millions of internally displaced persons
(IDPs), many of whom are originally from Darfur and may be sympathetic to opposition
movements. The electoral law requires prospective voters to register in the constituency where
they have lived for the last three months and present some form of personal identification. The
registration lists will then be published three months prior to the election. This means that unless
provisions are put in place, IDPs would have to relocate to their homes or resettle at least six
months before the election to vote in their home constituencies – a highly unrealistic expectation.
In reality, IDPs will likely have to vote in their current place of residence. Because those who were
displaced are more likely to be opposed to the government, spreading their votes across the
constituencies where they are currently living may skew the vote in Darfur in favour of the more
pro-government forces who remain.
Additionally, the number of geographic constituencies for electing representatives to the National
and State Assemblies will be based on the census conducted in April and May 2008. However,
the census did not cover many areas in Darfur, including the IDP camps. Consequently, the
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