Sudan Elections - 2000
Presidential and parliamentary elections took place from 13-22 December 2000. Sudan's National Elections Authority (NEA) declared President al-Bashir the winner of the Presidential Election which had four other candidates. Al-Bashir won 86.5% of the votes while runner-up Ga'afar Nimeri won 9.6% of the votes. Sudan's ruling National Congress won 355 out of the 360 National Assembly seats in the Parliamentary Election. Presidential and parliamentary elections in 2000 were marked by serious irregularities, including official interference, electoral fraud, insufficient opportunities for voters to register, and inadequate election monitoring. All major opposition parties boycotted the elections.
The Government of Sudan and the SPLM/A formally signed the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) on January 9, 2005. Prior to the 2005 CPA, Sudan had an authoritarian government in which all effective political power was in the hands of President Omar Hassan al-Bashir. Bashir and his party had controlled the government since he led the military coup in 1989. The CPA established a new Government of National Unity and the Interim national Government of Southern Sudan and called for wealth-sharing, power-sharing, and security arrangements between the two parties. On July 9, 2005, the Presidency was inaugurated with al-Bashir sworn in as President and John Garang, SPLM leader, installed as First Vice President. All governmental positions were appointive until the national elections scheduled to be held no later than 2009.
Sudan continued to cope with the countrywide effects of conflict, displacement, and insecurity. During more than 20 years of conflict between the Government of Sudan and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A), violence, famine, and disease killed more than 2 million people, forced an estimated 600,000 people to seek refuge in neighboring countries, and displaced approximately 4 million others within Sudan, creating the world's largest population of internally displaced people. Since the 2005 signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), which officially ended the North-South conflict, the UN estimates that nearly 2 million displaced people had returned to Southern Sudan and the Three Areas of Southern Kordofan, Blue Nile, and Abyei.
In March 2009, following the ICC’s issuance of the arrest warrant for Bashir, the Government of Sudan expelled 13 international humanitarian aid organizations from Sudan and shut down three national aid organizations in a decision it publicly claimed was “long overdue.” These organizations served as U.S. Government and UN implementing partners for the provision of, among other services, water and sanitation, health care, and protection, and their forced departure, according to the UN, affected 50% of aid delivery in Sudan. In the absence of expelled non-governmental organizations (NGOs), UN agencies and remaining NGOs stepped in to fill some of the critical gaps and address immediate humanitarian needs.
The UN, the United States, and other members of the international community had since urged the Government of Sudan to reverse its decision on the expulsions, to identify and respond to gaps in life-saving operations, and to facilitate an orderly transition to working through the remaining NGOs. On March 18, 2009 President Obama announced the appointment of J. Scott Gration as the U.S. Special Envoy to Sudan. Special Envoy Gration negotiated with the Government of Sudan to allow the entry of four new NGOs to help address the humanitarian gaps. The Government of Sudan had been somewhat cooperative regarding the loosening of some administrative and bureaucratic impediments that had hindered the fast and effective delivery of humanitarian assistance in the past.
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