April 22, 2010 (BENTIU, Unity State) – About
six political parties and independent candidates, contesting
as rivals for the position of governor in Unity state, have
adopted a joint position to tackle what they said was an
ongoing rigging of the gubernatorial election results by the
state’s electoral body in favor of the incumbent caretaker
governor.
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Polling staff members close a polling
station during a storm on the last day of elections in
Juba, south Sudan April 15, 2010 (Reuters)
The parties that have teamed up include
the South Sudan Democratic Forum (SSDF), United Democratic
Salvation Front (UDSF), United Democratic Front (UDF),
National Congress Party (NCP) and two independent candidates
spearheaded by Angelina Teny.
In a statement to Sudan Tribune on
Wednesday, Teny said the parties had jointly accused the
State High Elections Committee of being partial and bias in
favor of the caretaker governor, Taban Deng Gai.
She said all those parties discovered with
disbelief that the electoral body resorted to inflating the
raw figures of the results which were reported from the
eight counties of the state, excluding Parieng County.
This, she added, was done in order to
claim a verified figure favoring the incumbent governor,
contrary to the matching recorded figures by all parties’
agents which put Teny ahead of Gai by 24,000 extra voters.
The parties, she said, have filed a
petition to the National Elections Commission (NEC),
demanding that the current membership of the State High
Elections Committee be dissolved and new neutral body to be
appointed and transparently verify the results and announce
the winner.
She also confirmed that a team sent to
Unity state by NEC from Khartoum met with her and the other
political parties’ candidates who briefed the delegation
about the situation.
The three-member team visited Bentiu to
acquaint themselves with the general situation in the
electoral process so that they would go back to Khartoum and
report their findings to the headquarters.
The candidates revealed that according to
the confirmed figures from results submitted by their
respective agents, Taban Deng Gai had already lost to
Angelina Teny by a very wide margin.
The joint position against rigging by all
the other six rival candidates competing for governorship,
has clearly indicated that the incumbent governor was alone
violator of the gubernatorial electoral process in the
state, she added.
CAMPAIGN TEAM LEADER ARRESTED IN BENTIU
Meanwhile police has arrested the campaign
team leader for the independent candidate, Angelina Teny in
Bentiu, the state capital.
Teny on Wednesday said her team leader was
arrested in front of the State High Elections Committee’s
office in the presence of senior police officers and members
of the visiting staff of the National Elections Commission
(NEC).
She further explained that the arrest
occurred when other members with the team leader, that
accompanied him to the NEC office, were prevented from
entering the committee’s compound. The police reacted by
arresting the team leader when he intervened by trying to
explain that they were his team members and should be
allowed to enter.
Teny further added that the whereabouts of
the team leader was not yet known on Wednesday, causing a
big concern.
TABAN WILL NOT BE DEFEATED, SAYS KIIR’S
CAMPAIGN SECRETARY
The campaign secretary for the incumbent
President of the Government of Southern Sudan and chairman
of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) has vowed
that Unity state’s incumbent governor, Taban Deng Gai, will
not be defeated in the elections.
Martin Majut Yak, Secretary for Popular
and Syndicated Organizations and Kiir’s campaign secretary
was quoted as saying that Taban Deng Gai will not concede
defeat despite projections to the contrary that the
independent candidate, Angelina Teny, was leading.
Majut argued that Taban was leading,
saying he would not concede defeat. “Taban is not, and will
not be defeated,” he said.
He optimistically expressed that
independent candidates were losing to the SPLM party.
“I am still optimistic now. Nobody came
from the independents. All the independents are defeated,”
he was quoted by the media as saying.
SPLM MINISTERS EMERGED DEFEATED BY
INDEPENDENTS, SPLM-DC
As results from geographical
constituencies begin to emerge ahead of official
announcements expected on Thursday, three prominent SPLM
ministers have already lost to independent candidates and
SPLM-DC.
Kosti Manibe, minister of Cabinet Affairs
in the Government of National Unity has lost to an
independent candidate in his home state of Western Equatoria,
John Luk Jok, minister of Energy and Mining in the
Government of Southern Sudan has lost to an independent
candidate in his home state of Jonglei while the former
Chief of General Staff of the SPLA forces and Minister for
Regional Cooperation in the Government of Southern Sudan,
General Oyai Deng Ajak, has lost to the SPLM-DC in his home
state of Upper Nile.
When reminded about the emerging situation
of the SPLM losing such prominent figures and what it means
to the party, Majut said there was nothing the party could
do to save the unpopular leaders in such “local politics.”
"Those are local politics. If someone is
not popular in his area, we cannot bring him by rigging. He
has to lose," he said.