Sudan Elections Roundup

Lots of coverage of Sudan as the country enters day two of voting:

• Reuters describes “chaos”: “Confusion soon erupted on Sunday as centre after centre, sometimes hours into the voting, discovered that voters were using the wrong ballot papers or that names or symbols of candidates were either missing or incorrect.”
• The BBC has pictures, and also comments on logistical problems with voting: “While the process generally went well in the capital Khartoum, voters faced obstacles in several states from the Red Sea in the north to the far south. The dominant party in the south is calling for a four-day extension.”
• VOA quotes David Caroll of the Carter Center’s monitoring team, who says voting was peaceful and also says, “Sudanese generally are looking interested in the voting process. I think it is fair to see some variability around the country. We don’t have all of the reports from our observer team, but in many places we saw good turnout.  We saw people waiting in lines to vote. But in many instances, we saw shortages of material or ballots or voter lists being delivered to the wrong stations.” Read about the Center’s preparations for the monitoring effort here.
• Christian Science Monitor talks about “a taste of democracy” for the Sudanese: “With nearly 100,000 soldiers deployed across northern Sudan to keep security, and police kept on high alert, the first day passed without significant violence. And for those who voted Sunday, the experience was an affirmation that normal citizens, on paper, do have power over their leaders, and thus they have a say in their own and their country’s future.”
• The Majlis gives a nice overview of the opening of the elections.
• Al Jazeera English blogger Hoda Abdel-Hamid says the SPLM felt it was a “wasted day” in terms of voting in the South. Her fellow AJE blogger Fatma Naib gives a view from Khartoum, noting the absence of youth voters and the presence of observers from the Organization of the Islamic Conference. These on the ground perspectives are invaluable.
• The New York Times gives another view from Khartoum, reporting substantial support for President Omar al-Bashir.
• Coverage of Bashir and South Sudanese President Salva Kiir voting.
• Save Darfur and Rob Crilly have good roundups.

Given all this coverage, I’m going to wait until voting ends to offer my own analysis. But I’ll probably do another roundup tomorrow as well, and contribute in the comments with any links you’d like me to include. I leave you with an AJE video: