National Electoral Commission says any Sudanese person with refugee status in Egypt will not be allowed to register

85% of southern Sudanese in Egypt who hold a UNHCR card have been prevented from voter registration.

From Sudan Radio Service, Friday, November 27, 2009:

27 November 2009 - (Cairo) - Eighty-five per cent of southern Sudanese in Egypt who hold a UNHCR card have been prevented from registering in the voter registration exercise.

The registration committee in Egypt announced that any person with refugee status in Egypt will not be allowed to register.

Speaking to Sudan Radio Service in Egypt, one of the registrars, Abubakar Abdelgadir, explains.

[Abubakar Abdelgadir]: “We have received instructions from the National Electoral Commission saying that anyone whose visa has been canceled by the Egyptian authorities and who has a refugee card should not be registered.”

The voter registration exercise in foreign countries has seen low turn-outs because the NEC has imposed a stringent set of registration requirements on Sudanese citizens living abroad.

Sudan Radio Service will be back online soon. This report was received by email.