ALJAZEERA
Sudanese have begun voting in the country's first multi-party elections in 24 years, despite the credibility of the process being marred by an opposition boycott and accusations of fraud.
Polls opened at 0500 GMT on Sunday as 16 million registered voters are asked to vote for their president as well as for parliamentary and local representatives.
The polls run over three days and will close on Tuesday.
Southern Sudanese are also voting for the leader of the semi-autonomous government of south Sudan.
Omar al-Bashir, the incumbent president, is almost certain of victory in the presidential race after opposition candidates pulled out, alleging widespread bias against them in the electoral system.
Yasser Arman, a northern Muslim representing the former southern rebel Sudan People's Liberation Movement(SPLM), and Sadiq al-Mahdi of the Umma Party,have both withdrawn from the race.
Controversial vote
They accuse al-Bashir of fraud and say free and fair conditions for the elections are not in place, particularly in Darfur, the western region under a state of emergency since civil war broke out seven years ago.
Darfur rebel movements, who control parts of the vast region, firmly rejected the elections but have so far not stated any intentions to derail the process.
While the result of the presidential poll holds little suspense, elections for parliamentary and local representatives are still fiercely competitive in many parts of the country.
Activists cautioned on Saturday that the credibility of the election had been undermined by the allegations, which they said have been ignored by al-Bashir's ruling National Congress Party(NCP).
"Violations of human rights - particularly restrictions on freedom of assembly and freedom of the press - are threatening prospects for a free, fair and credible vote across Sudan," Georgette Gagnon, Africa director of Human Rights Watch, said.
"Sudanese authorities are clearly failing to uphold international standards."
Frenetic preparation
Election organisers rushed on Saturday to get ballot papers to the more remote parts of the country.
Sixteen airplanes, 16 helicopters and more than 2,000 vehicles were mobilised in the past two weeks to transport ballot boxes around the country.
"I hope that it will be completely compatible with international standards, and safe and free and fair, and that the decision of individual voters will be expressed freely without intimidation," Jimmy Carter, a former US president, whose Carter Centre is monitoring the three-day vote, said.
Security forces have been deployed in strength, as have international peacekeepers in both the war-torn western region of Darfur and in the south.
More than 100,000 police officers will be on duty, a security official said, and embassies in the capital Khartoum have advised their nationals to adopt precautionary measures such as stocking up on food and fuel.
Looming referendum
Hopes have dimmed that the elections will be a watershed moment as Sudan attempts to put decades of conflict behind it.
Last-minute boycotts have revealed the fragility of the 2005 peace dealthat ended the country's long North-South civil war.
The NCP has ruled Sudan in a coalition with the SPLM since the signing of the peace agreement.
Part of that deal was an agreement that Southern Sudan could hold a referendum on independence and many in the south see these elections as step towards that goal.
"The people here are looking at these elections as a stepping stone to reach the referendum," Hoda Abdel-Hamid, Al Jazeera's correspondent, reporting from the southern city of Juba, said.
"It's a very important vote for the people in south Sudan, certainly more important than the vote that will happen in days to come."
Analysts said on Saturday that renewed violence over the outcome of the coming election is a distinct possibility.
"If elections are to take place in such compromised environment, conflicts about the legitimacy of the results might spark violence," the African Centre for Justice and Peace Studies said in a statement.
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