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SUDAN / REFERENDUM OBSERVERS
STORY: SUDAN / REFERENDUM OBSERVERS
TRT: 1.13
SOURCE: UNMIS
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 17 JANUARY 2011, KHARTOUM, SUDAN
1. Wide shot, EU representatives
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Veronique de Keyser, Chief Observer, European Union Election observation Mission Southern Sudan Referendum 2011:
“If I had to summarize the result of our preliminary statement I would say peaceful, credible voting process with overwhelming turn out marks southern Sudan referendum”.
3. Wide shot, journalists
4. Med shot, representatives of the Carter Center
5. Wide shot, journalists
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Sanne van den Bergh, Carter Center Field Office Director:
“In the pre-polling period we have notice absence of large scale and voter education both on the procedures of voter registration on the polling but also means of two options unity and secession”.
8. Wide shot, journalists
9. Med shot, journalists
10. Wide shot, signboard of Sudanese National network for monitoring referendum
11. Med shot, for head of Sudanese National network for monitoring referendum
12. Med shot, Journalists
Disclosing findings about Sudan’s referendum today (17 January), two days after polling closed, international and national observer missions indicated a largely free and fair process.
However, the missions’ preliminary statements also noted shortcomings, including insufficient voter education, pre-polling campaigning overshadowing discussions about post-referendum arrangements and some logistics issues.
The Carter Center, with over 100 observers on the ground during polling, declared Southern Sudan’s self-determination referendum credible and “broadly consistent with international standards.”
The same observer mission also noted some shortcomings in the process, including the absence of large-scale and unbiased voter education, overwhelming presence of security at polling centres and uneven application of voter eligibility criteria, especially in North Sudan.
SOUNDBITE (English) Sanne van den Bergh, Carter Center Field Office Director:
“In the pre-polling period we have notice absence of large scale and voter education both on the procedures of voter registration on the polling but also means of two options unity and secession”.
And while calling the referendum credible and “a remarkable operational and political achievement,” the European Union (EU) observation mission’s statement today also mentioned a lack of post-referendum discussions during the campaign period.
Commitments made in the 2005 Abyei Protocol and the 2009 Abyei Area Referendum Act to hold a referendum for the oil-rich area bordering northern and southern Sudan were not met, the EU observers noted, adding that this was “partially responsible for subsequent violence and instability in the Abyei region.”
The statement of the National Elections Observation Network (NEON) remarked on several shortcomings, witnessed by some of the network’s 300 observers deployed across Sudan during referendum registration and polling.
Some registration centres ran out of registration cards said NEON, while bemoaning a weak civic education process, negligible role of civil society in the referendum, and occasional irregularities, including polling staff voting on behalf of voters.
Overall, the observer missions commended the Southern Sudan Referendum Commission and its counterparts for successful implementation of the referendum despite short timelines and logistical challenges, and recognized the critical role played by the United Nations Integrated Referendum and Elections Division as well as other international partners.
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