Omar al-Bashir Re-elected as President of Sudan with 94% of Votes

According to government statistics announced on Monday, April 7, Omar al-Bashir, the President of Sudan, was re-elected for another term with 94% of the votes. Despite serious accusations of committing war crimes and several armed rebellions against his government, he has ruled Sudan for 25 years. According to Agence France-Presse, Mukhtar al-Issam, the head of the Sudanese Electoral Commission, told reporters that voter turnout was about 46%, and reports regarding the participation of a small percentage of eligible voters in this election are not accurate. He stated that Omar al-Bashir received approximately 5.5 million votes. Fourteen other candidates in the Sudanese presidential election were completely unknown to the public. Voting began on April 13 and lasted for four days. About 11 million people registered for this election, and 11,000 polling stations were established. Polling centers in the capital city of Khartoum were completely empty. The head of the Sudanese Electoral Commission said that Khartoum recorded the lowest turnout at about 35%, while the highest turnout was in the eastern province of Kassala at about 66%. Omar al-Bashir came to power in 1989 through a bloodless coup at the head of an Islamist group. He is the only leader in the world accused by the International Criminal Court of committing genocide. These crimes relate to the war in the Darfur region, where approximately 300,000 people were killed and over two million displaced due to the ruthless attacks by Sudanese government forces against the armed rebellion in the area. The Sudanese government rejected the opposition's request to form a national coalition government to oversee fair elections, which led the opposition to boycott the elections. Opposition groups issued a joint statement on Sunday declaring that they do not recognize the election results. They called on the people of Sudan to unite and overthrow Omar al-Bashir's government. Before the voting began, opposition forces had made a similar request. This is the second election during Omar al-Bashir's rule in which other individuals besides himself have run for office. The election did not generate much excitement within Sudan, but it was not entirely insignificant. Omar al-Bashir needs to remain in power to avoid prosecution by the International Criminal Court. At the same time, to attract foreign investment, which is vital for Sudan after the secession and independence of the oil-rich region of South Sudan in 2011, he requires a degree of political legitimacy.