Friday, November 20, 2009

Voter registration center opens at Sudanese Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya, Nov. 16-27, 2009

Report by Sudan Radio Service, Friday, 20 November 2009:
(Nairobi) - The voter registration center at the Sudan Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya, has seen low turnouts of people wanting to register since registration began on Tuesday in the Kenyan capital.

The Sudanese Embassy became a registration center after a petition was sent to the National Election Commission to allow Sudanese in Kenya and Uganda to participate in the election as well.

Mohamed Fadhul Ali is the head of the voter registration committee in Kenya. He spoke to Sudan Radio Service on Friday.

[Mohamed Fadhul]: “We opened this center at the Sudanese Embassy in Nairobi here on November 16 and we will continue until the 27th. The number of people who have registered so far is less than a hundred. This is really not a good result. We made the procedures easy for people so that they know what documents to bring when coming for registration. For instance, we are ready to give people passports and if you have a student ID you can register as well.”

Fadhul adds that they are prepared to work on weekends to allow more people to register.

Malook Manas is one of the voters who registered on Friday.

[Malook Manas]:I was able to register because I have a student ID; otherwise they would have not allowed me to register. But you know now it’s not holiday time for students and they have to squeeze in the time with their studies in order to come and register. So our government should have opened many more registration centers because the Sudanese embassy is very far from a lot of people. Many Sudanese live outside Nairobi, because as you know, life in the city is expensive. Many of the older people, who live in Mombasa, will take two days to get here and registration is going to end soon.”

Initially, NEC had only allowed Sudanese living in the Gulf to register and it excluded residents of Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda.

Ambassador Majok Guandong told Sudan Radio Service last week that there are plans to open registration centers in Nakuru and Eldoret where there are large Sudanese populations. The plan is yet to come into effect.
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Report by Sudan Radio Service, Friday, November 20, 2009:
(Mundri) - As voter registration continues throughout Sudan, there are an increasing number of complaints from some voter registration centers.

Speaking to Sudan Radio Service on Friday from Mundri, the deputy governor of Western Equatoria state, Joseph Ngere, said that the figures of those registered in Mundri have been falsified.

[Joseph Ngere]: “The actual figure we got is 11,028, but the figures given to the National Electoral High Committee in the state is 4,258. You can see the difference. I understand that our team here is working with the National Election Commission, but what they might report is not what we have here, and this is causing a lot of arguments. I understand that usually what they get from the field they send to Khartoum, and if they are sending these figures and the figures that we have is 11,028 and they are sending is 4,258, then we have a big problem.”

Ngere said that following the seven-day holiday given to government officials by the President of GOSS, most of the MPs in Western Equatoria state are encouraging their people to register for the elections.

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