20100417
press tv

International election monitors say Sudan's landmark multiparty vote, seen as a test of the country's stability, failed to meet international standards.

The presidential election — already tainted by fraud allegations, major opposition boycotts and polling errors — looks certain to extend the two decade rule of President Umar al-Bashir.

While hailing the election efforts as "a major step that opens up democratic space in Sudan," EU vote monitoring chief Veronique de Keyser told reporters in Khartoum on Saturday that the election had shown "significant deficiencies."

Presenting the EU monitoring mission's preliminary report, de Keyser put the turnout at around 60 percent, citing different sources.

Former US President Jimmy Carter, whose Carter Centre was one of the two major mentoring teams in the country, also said that the elections would probably “fall short of international standards that are expected of advanced democracies.”

"It is too early to offer a final, overall assessment…[but] the people's expectations have not been met," Carter added.

Some 16 million people had registered for the vote, but the process was hampered by logistic problems and procedural errors, such as ballot mix-ups, to such an extent that authorities extended the election period from three to five days.

The Sudanese also cast ballots for their parliamentary and regional representatives, with southerners voting to elect their local president for the semi-autonomous oil-rich south ahead of the region's 2011 independence vote.

According to the EU monitors, Irregularities and delays were more pronounced in the south of the country.