Sudan Set to Vote in Polls Shunned By Opposition

By Fatma Naib
Link to web article here.

Khartoum — Sudan is set to vote in the country's general elections, which are expected to see the incumbent President Omar al-Bashir hold on to power for another five-year term.

More than 13 million people have registered for three days of voting due to start at 8am local time on Monday at some 11,000 polling stations across the country.

In addition to Bashir, 14 little-known candidates that pose little threat to the incumbent are running.

"I only see Bashir on TV and elsewhere. It doesn't feel like Bashir has any other contesting against him," Ali Adel Kheder, 19, told Al Jazeera, adding that he would not vote.

"The state TV and private channels are all pro-Bashir. I don't know who the candidates are and what their election programmes are."

Voters will also be electing members of the national assembly, and the legislative councils of the states.

Quota systems are in place to ensure that women occupy at least 25 percent of seats in the national assembly and that all the country's regions are fairly represented.

Bashir, who has ruled the country for 25 years, is expected to win by a landslide since most of Sudan's main opposition groups are boycotting the polls.