2010 Sudanese general election in Jonglei
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Elections were held in Jonglei State on 11–15 April 2010 as part of the 2010 Sudanese general election, with voting for President of Sudan, National Assembly of Sudan, President of Southern Sudan, Southern Sudan Legislative Assembly, Governor of Jonglei State and the Jonglei State Legislative Assembly.[1][2] The elections were the first in Sudan for over two decades, held in the aftermath of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement between the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) and the Government of Sudan of Omar al-Bashir.[3] The election was carried out in precarious security conditions, with ethnic conflicts prevalent in the state.[2] The elections were won by the SPLM, with the exception of a handful of seats.[4] Disputes over the election results led to the outbreak of two armed insurgencies.[5]
A new electoral law, the National Elections Act of 2008, was adopted in July 2008.[6][7] For the elections for the presidencies of Sudan and South Sudan, elections would be held under an absolute majority system: If no candidate would obtained 50% of the votes cast plus one vote, a second round of the two most-voted candidates would be held.[8] State governors, on the other hand, would be elected under a simple majority system whereby the most-voted candidate would be elected governor.[8]
For the parliamentary elections (whether to the National Assembly, the Southern Sudan Legislative Assembly or the State Legislative Assemblies) the electoral legislation adopted in July 2008 stipulated a mixed electoral system:[6][8]
- 60% of the parliamentarians would be elected through single-member First-past-the-post geographic constituencies.
- 15% of the parliamentarians would be elected through Party-list proportional representation.
- 25% of the parliamentarians would be elected through Party-list proportional representation for women candidates.
The delimitation of constituency boundaries was based on the national population census published in May 2009, a census whose accuracy was disputed.[9] Per the 2008 electoral legislation, constituencies should have been delimitated within a 30-day period.[9] The National Electoral Commission tasked the state-level High Electoral Commissions to draft the constituency boundary delimitations.[9] According to the Carter Center report, constituencies were “"vague, unmapped, and difficult for observers and election officials to comprehend".[9] The electoral legislation established that the population in each geography constituencies for the National Assembly must not deviate by more than 15% from the average population size of the 270 geographic constituencies for the National Assembly (145,017 inhabitants).[9][7] In Jonglei, there were significant deviations from the legislation.[9] The Bor South National Assembly geographic constituency in the Jonglei state capital had the largest deviation of all 270 National Assembly geographic constituencies, hosting a population 52% larger than the national average.[7]
| No. | Counties | Population (2008 census) | Variance |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pigi | 99,068 | -31.69% |
| 2 | Old Fangak | 110,130 | -24.06% |
| 3 | Ayod | 139,282 | -3.95% |
| 4 | Nyirol | 108,674 | -25.06% |
| 5 | Uror | 178,519 | +23.10% |
| 6 | Twic East, Duk | 150,937 | +4.08% |
| 7 | Bor South | 221,106 | +52.47% |
| 8 | Akobo | 136,210 | -6.07% |
| 9 | Pibor, Pochalla | 214,676 | +48.04% |
Organization and context
At the time of the vote, Jonglei was the largest state in Sudan by area.[11] The holding of the election presented logistic challenges, as much of the state was not reachable by road.[1] There were 600 polling stations and 670 committees across the state.[2] Mecak Ajang Alaak was the Chairman of the Jonglei State Election High Commission.[12]
A United Nations Mission in Sudan helicopter assisted the authorities to transport voting materials back to the state capital Bor.[1] Delays in receiving ballot boxes from polling stations resulted in delays of announcement of preliminary results.[1] Observers from the Carter Center observed party agents assisting Election Commission workers in counting of votes, but refrained from stating that this would have been a systematic practice.[2]
595,901 persons were registered as voters.[2] This was estimated to correspond to 88% of the population aged 18 years and above.[2] Each voter would be given 12 different ballots (President of Sudan, National Assembly of Sudan geographic constituency, National Assembly of Sudan Party-List, National Assembly of Sudan Women's List, President of Southern Sudan, Southern Sudan Legislative Assembly geographic constituency, Southern Sudan Legislative Assembly Party-List, Southern Sudan Legislative Assembly Women's List, Governor of Jonglei, Jonglei State Legislative Assembly geographic constituency, Jonglei State Legislative Assembly Party-List and Jonglei State Legislative Assembly Women's List).[8]
From 2009 onwards inter-tribal violence in Jonglei escalated.[13] In the run-up to the elections, politicians sought to capitalize on tribal rivalries to mobilize voters.[13] Pre-electoral violence caused largescale population displacements in Jonglei.[11]
SPLM nominations
Ahead of the election, it was widely presumed that SPLM would win and thus competition over SPLM tickets was fierce.[14] The State SPLM Electoral College met on 10 January 2010 to decide the party nominations for the April election.[14] The meeting evaluated 228 potential candidates.[14] The State SPLM Electoral College ranked five candidates for governor, leaving to the SPLM Political Bureau to finalize the decision.[14] The State SPLM Electoral College named 91 candidates for the other posts up for election.[14]
William Borien Gola was nominated by the State SPLM Electoral College as the candidate for the Pibor West (Gumuruk, Lekwongole) geographic constituency for the Southern Sudan Legislative Assembly, but this decision was over-ridden by the SPLM Political Bureau which named Francis Lokurunga as the SPLM candidate for the seat.[4][15]
