Sudan's elections continued for a second day Tuesday after materials were missing and voters avoided the polls yesterday.

Election materials were not delivered in time to parts of El Gezira state in the country's east, sources said.

Sources confirmed to Radio Tamazuj that the electoral register and ballots for president did not reach some polling places in the state. In Rufaa area, people complained of a delay in arrival of ballots for the national parliament elections too.

Members of the election committee in the area said they informed the national election commission on the matter, but without any tangible result so far.

Moreover, some centers opened late for two hours allegedly due to logistical challenges. Some local citizens reportedly boycotted the vote.

Short queues

Reports of low voter turnout continued across the capital Khartoum on Monday, the first of three days of voting.

Radio Tamazuj’s Khartoum correspondent said at the Saint Francis School polling center where President Omar Al Bashir cast his vote, only eleven voters were later seen. These included nine monitors and two members of the election committee.

Our correspondent saw 28 voters at Kereri polling center in northern Omdurman, as well as 13 people waiting to cast ballots at El Shabiya centre in Khartoum north until midday yesterday.

In Imtidad, Riyadh and Tayif suburbs, there was no sign of elections at all, while a limited number of electorates voted in Imtidad Nasser, mostly families of contestants.

In Sajana area several centers were empty the whole day. Voter turnout in El Hella, El Goz, and Rimela was also low.

Misbah Mohamed Ahmed, a local resident, told Radio Tamazuj that people were staying away from the polls due to deteriorating living conditions in the country.

Voting in the states

Blue Nile, West Kordofan, and East Darfur States reported varying numbers of voters in the polling centres.

Abdullah Hamdan from Babanusa town in West Kordofan State said the election was progressing well. He said the monitors were working normally without any problem.

Meanwhile, In Blue Nile State, the polling centres opened in the morning in the presence of the governor Hussein Yassin.

Amir Merghani Abu Saleh, a local official confirmed the security situation was stable in the state yesterday.

He pointed out that Kurmuk locality was left out from the election due to insecurity as a result of fighting between the government forces and the SPLA-North rebels.

Photo: Woman puts her vote in a ballot box during the elections in 2010 (EU EEAS)

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