AFRICA/SUDAN - Victory for the Sudanese ruling party in elections

Khartoum (Agenzia Fides) – Victory has been declared in the north of Sudan, by the National Congress Party (NCP), the ruling party, in presidential, parliamentary, and local Sudanese elections, which ended April 15 (see Fides 15/04/2010 ).
The vote counting is still underway and the official results should be announced April 20, but the results for some districts were released, showing that the party of President Omar el Bashir is ahead.
However, the elections are contested by the opposition, which accuses the existence of fraud. The head of the European Union Election Observer Mission in Sudan, Veronique de Keyser, said that the elections "opened democratic space" in the country, but also stressed the difficulties encountered by the observers. "In this election, there was an effort to meet international standards, but they were not met by everyone." (LM) (Agenzia Fides 17/4/2010)