2010-04-14
KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudan's ruling party on Wednesday said it would invite opposition groups to join the government if it won elections, in an apparent bid to heal rifts over fraud accusations and faltering peace deals.

Sudan is four days into presidential and legislative polls that were supposed to bring the oil-producing state back to democracy more than two decades after a military-led coup.

The poll's credibility was cast in doubt after some major parties decided to boycott large parts of the poll, accusing incumbent president Omar Hassan al-Bashir and his northern National Congress Party (NCP) of widespread rigging.

"If we are declared winners in the elections ... we would extend the invitation to all parties, even those who have not participated in the elections, to join the government because we believe this is a critical moment in our history," senior NCP official Ghazi Salaheddin told reporters.

"We are facing important decisions like self-determination in the south and would like to garner as much support and as much consensus as we can."

The elections were set up under a 2005 peace accord that ended more than two decades of north-south civil war and also promised southerners a referendum in January 2011 on whether they should declare independence.

The overwhelming majority of southerners are thought to favour separation. But many have warned there is a risk of conflict in the build-up to the vote.

Bashir's NCP and other northern parties have vowed to campaign against separation, with some analysts saying the north is reluctant to lose control of oil fields in the south.

CAUTIOUS RESPONSE

Salaheddin said one of the first jobs of a new "inclusive" government would be to take a fresh look at policy on the conflict in the western Darfur region -- negotiations between Khartoum and a major Darfur rebel group are currently stalled.

He said another priority of the new government would be to resolve a dispute over the position of the county's north-south border -- a remaining sticking point in the 2005 accord.

Salaheddin said the offer to join the government went to all parties, mentioning in particular the opposition Umma, which is boycotting most voting, and the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), which threatened a boycott then re-joined the race.

Parties who did not join the government risked isolation, he said. "Any politician in his right mind would not decline such an offer," he said in a recording of the briefing to journalists heard by Reuters.

Umma gave the offer a cautious welcome, saying it was interested in holding talks with the NCP and other parties, although it was too early to commit to joining a coalition.

"Let us talk about dialogue first, how to solve Sudan's problems," said Umma vice-president Fadlalla Burma Nasir.

Salaheddin's statement was dismissed by Yasir Arman, the former presidential candidate for south's dominant Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), who pulled out of the race last month along withe most of the party's northern candidates.

Arman accused the NCP of jumping the gun by offering deals before the results were known.

"This is proof that they know the results in advance ... We don't need an invitation from Ghazi."

The SPLM, predicted to win most positions in south Sudan, was always likely to join a coalition after the election. Under Sudan's constitution, the president of south Sudan automatically becomes first vice president of the whole country.

Salaheddin's offer came amid further signs of confusion in the elections which observers say have already been by hit missing ballot boxes and gaps in voters lists.

The country's National Elections Commission said it was considering re-running ballots in a few constituencies to correct errors in voting forms.