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December 9, 2013 (KHARTOUM) - A senior official at the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) in Sudan suggested that president Omer Hassan al-Bashir will not be the party’s candidate for the 2015 elections as part of the ongoing reform process within the NCP.

Sudanese President Omer Hassan al-Bashir (AFP)

In his first press statements since losing his Vice Presidential post this week, al-Haj Adam Youssef said that the NCP is capable of picking its candidate for the upcoming elections.

"[President] Bashir could have [voluntarily] abandoned his position [right now] but the reality necessitated that he stays until the end of the [Presidential] term," Youssef said.

Earlier this year, the Sudanese veteran leader who staged a military coup in 1989, announced that he is serious about making this term his last after more than a quarter century in power.

Bashir stressed that the country is in need of new blood and noted that he spent more than enough time at this post.

But afterwards several Sudanese official sought to downplay Bashir’s comments and suggested that the NCP could force Bashir to run again.

Last June, the Sudanese president himself appeared to backtrack his statements by saying that the media made conclusions on the issue of his candidacy without being fully informed adding that his re-election will be determined by the NCP’s General Convention and the Shura Council.

The former presidential adviser Ghazi Salah al-Deen al-Attabani saw himself losing his position this year as head of the NCP caucus in parliament after publicly declaring that Bashir is constitutionally barred from running again for presidency.

Party officials however insisted that there is no link between al-Attabani’s ouster and his remarks on Bashir’s eligibility to run again.

Al-Attabani was expelled from the NCP last October in wake of a memo he drafted along with more than two dozen party figures the month before calling for reversing decision to lift fuel subsidies and end the violent measures taken against the demonstrators who took the streets to protest.

They also urged Bashir to form a mechanism for national reconciliation comprised of various political forces and assign the economic dossier to a professional national economic team.

"The legitimacy of your rule has never been at stake like it is today" they said in their letter to Bashir which was seen as a direct challenge to the president who is now the country’s longest serving leader.

Al-Attabani and others announced this month that they made a formal application to establish a new party.

Youssef made an indirect reference today to the NCP defectors led by al-Attabani saying that they were taken by surprise after the cabinet reshuffle made over the weekend.

"They couldn’t believe that the presidency would seek reform because some of them gave up on reform at a time when the [NCP] leadership was serious," said Youssef who still holds the position of the NCP’s political sector head.

The reshuffle saw the departure of several longtime NCP figures from their governmental posts including 1st VP Ali Osman Taha, presidential assistant and NCP Vice chairman Nafie Ali Nafie and Oil minister Awad al-Jaz.

Youssef said that the change process will expand to include NCP sectors and secretariats as well leadership of other government agencies and its affiliated corporations.

The NCP official called on other political parties to mimic the changes implemented by his party and push for new blood at the top.
(ST)