Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir extended his quarter-century in power with landslide election victories for himself and his ruling party, according to results announced on Monday, and dismissed allegations that voters had been denied any real choice.
The 71-year-old looks set to tighten his grip on the oil producer, facing a divided and diminished opposition that mostly boycotted the poll held earlier this month.
Bashir took 94.05 percent of votes in the presidential election and his National Congress Party (NCP) won 323 of 426 parliamentary seats, National Election Commission president Mukhtar al-Asim told a news conference in Khartoum.
Mukhtar put turnout at 46.4 percent, above African Union monitors’ estimates of 30-35 percent.
“Voters didn’t bother to vote or pay attention because they didn’t see it as a real election,” said Abdelwahab El Effendi, a Sudan expert at the University of Westminster. “Even for supporters of the government, it wasn’t worth their while to go to a polling station because they knew who would win.”
Bashir’s critics complain of a crackdown on media, civil society and political opposition groups, and the European Union had accused Sudan of failing to hold a genuine national dialogue to ease its conflicts, or to create a “conducive environment” for the elections.
But in a victory speech hours after the results were announced, Bashir hit back.
“With these elections, the Sudanese people gave the world a lesson in ethics, they gave the world a lesson in integrity,” he told cheering supporters.
“We do not accept the supervision or the dictates of others … Sudan is a free country and we don’t accept others’ orders.”