Electoral Commission: Elections may be delayed

June 10, 2009 (Miraya FM)

The deputy chairman of the national electoral commission, Abdullah Ahmed Salih, has warned that the upcoming elections in February might be postponed. He attributed the delay to the dispute over the census results which SPLM has not yet accepted.

Salih told Reuters that due to the delay of the census results and SPLM's reservations over the results as well as the time needed for preparation of voters' lists, the electoral schedule might require some adjustment.

Meanwhile, the Chairperson of the National Elections Commission Molana Abel Alier has said that the total costs of the upcoming national elections are estimated to be 1.1 billion US dollars.

While Briefing ambassadors and representatives of the international organizations on Tuesday, Alier urged governments and agencies to make the electoral process a success.

Miraya Fm contacted the Political Analyst and head of the Centre for Sudanese Studies, Dr. Hayder Ibrahim, and asked about the issue of financing elections, he said:

"A neutral party was supposed to be the one financing-and what is the mechanism for financing the parties?

I think the most important thing is that the parties should not retard to fraud, or to get finance from sides which are not committed to democracy.

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