Articles and Analysies
South Sudan Diaspora Voter Registration Shall Be Useless Without Presidential Candidates By Dr. James Okuk
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Nov 23, 2009 - 6:25:38 PM

South Sudan Diaspora Voter Registration Shall Be Useless Without Presidential Candidates

By Dr. James Okuk

The choice of the Diaspora will be limited in the 2010 elections according to the Sudan 2008 Electoral Act. They will only elect the president of the united Sudan; and that shall be Mr. Omer Al Bashir (the current sitting president) or whoever is going to contest with him from the opposition parties or alliances.

T he other posts like the Presidency of GoSS, Governorship of States and all the Parliamentarian seats shall only be presented for preferential choice by those inside the Sudan. So unless the SPLM, the SPLM-DC and other political parties are going to contest for the Sudan Presidency seated in Khartoum, all the efforts of their supporters in the Diaspora to register for voting shall be in vain if any of the registered voter does not want to elect Al Bashir or the opposition candidate(s).

If the SPLM, the SPLM-DC and the other Southern political parties are going to contest the GoSS Presidency post only and below, then their Diaspora supporters will be out of elections game as they shall not have candidates (players in the field) to support and cast their ballots on. The Electoral law shall not allow them to vote for  Dr. Salva Kiir, Dr. Lam Akol, Eng. Charles Kisanga, Dr. Riek Machar, Mr. Wani Igga, Mr. Malik Aggar, Madam Nyadeng Garang, Madam Awud, Mr. Nial Deng, Mr. Pagan Amum, Mr. Yasser Arman, etc., if these politicians were presented as the candidates for Juba seated Presidency or any governorship post in the states.

However, t he only best thing they could do is to mobilize the registered friends and relatives inside the Sudan to vote on their behalf for the candidtes of their best choice below the Khartoum based presidency. The current Voter Registration they have rushed to and complained to do shall be useless to use directly for other candidates apart from national Presidential hopefuls.

I have been thinking of this deeply as people wast their money in Diaspora to rush to the Embassies and Consulates for registration, not understanding that they will end up voting for no one of their choice in April 2011 or boycotting voting at all.

This is the trick and the dilemma of what we call democracy and democratic transformation. Sometimes and in most cases, especially in less developed countries we end up being presented with candidates who are not our preferences. It is the price of democracy or call it tyranny of the majority. Think deeply about this and be ready for the shock if you have not thought about it.

Dr. James Okuk.could be reached at [email protected]

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