News Article by AFP posted on November 29, 2000 at 00:09:09: EST (-5 GMT)
Sudan opposition alleges elections will be rigged, urges complete boycott
KHARTOUM, Nov 28 (AFP) - The Sudanese opposition on Tuesday
said
upcoming parliamentary and presidential elections would be rigged
and
urged voters and international monitors to boycott them.
The umbrella National Democratic Alliance (NDA) said in a
statement faxed
to AFP that the elections would be "void and rigged
in advance" because of
the current state of emergency in Sudan, a
boycott by the opposition, and the
fact that elections will not take
place in war-torn areas.
"Let our boycott of the election be comprehensive so as to
expose its
falsehood to the public in Sudan and to the entire
world," the NDA said,
warning that the outcome will not be
recognised by the people of Sudan.
The NDA, which groups northern and southern opposition groups
that have
been fighting a 17-year-old civil war with Khartoum,
described the elections
as "an open attempt for falsifying the will
of the people."
The elections, set to run from December 11 to 20, will choose
members of
parliament which was dissolved a year ago when President
Omar al-Beshir
decreed a state of emergency in moves designed to
oust an Islamist
rival.
The NDA appealed to regional and international organisations
not
to give the elections the semblance of legitimacy by monitoring
them.