A roundup of a few key stories from the last week on elections issues in Sudan and South Sudan:
South Sudan vows to go ahead with elections despite US withholding support (Sudan Tribune, 16 January 2015) – South Sudan said on Friday it was prepared to go ahead with planned elections despite the United States and other foreign countries refusing to support the ballot.
USA will not support June elections in South Sudan (Radio Tamazuj, 16 January 2015) – The United States Ambassador to South Sudan told the South Sudanese government that Washington will not support elections scheduled for June 2015. Lagawa activists blocked from meeting vice president.
Blue Nile NCP leaders threaten to run as independent election candidates (Radio Tamazuj, 16 January 2015) – Leading members of Sudan’s ruling National Congress Party in Blue Nile state have threatened to run in the upcoming general elections as independents if Khartoum imposes incompetent candidates on their region.
Umma, Reform Now, Unionist faction boycott upcoming Sudan polls (Radio Dabanga, 13 January 2015) – The Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) has called upon international organisations to refrain from funding and monitoring the general elections in Sudan, scheduled for April.
S Sudanese researchers, activists, opposition all against elections (Radio Tamazuj, 12 January 2015) – The Sudd Institute, a Juba-based research group, has recommended against holding national elections in South Sudan for at least three years.
File photo: South Sudan Foreign Minister Barnaba Marial Benjamin