VZCZCXRO3769
OO RUEHGI RUEHMA RUEHROV
DE RUEHKH #1685/01 3231503
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 181503Z NOV 08
FM AMEMBASSY KHARTOUM
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 2357
INFO RUCNFUR/DARFUR COLLECTIVE
RHMFISS/CJTF HOA

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KHARTOUM 001685 
 
DEPT FOR AF A/S FRAZER, SE WILLIAMSON, AF/SPG, DRL 
NSC FOR PITTMAN AND HUDSON 
DEPT PLS PASS USAID FOR AFR/SUDAN 
ADDIS ABABA ALSO FOR USAU 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL PINR KDEM SOCI KPKO UNSC SU
SUBJECT: AT LONG LAST, SUDAN HAS A NATIONAL ELECTORAL COMMISSION 
 
REF: A) KHARTOUM 1673 
      B) KHARTOUM 1650 
      C) KHARTOUM 1522 
 
SUDAN HAS AN ELECTORAL COMMISSION 
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¶1. (SBU) On 17 November, the Sudanese National Assembly approved the 
nine members of the National Electoral Commission (NEC).  The NEC 
Chairman is prominent Sudanese political figure and southerner Abel 
Alier (reftels).  Alier, an internationally respected judge and 
human-rights lawyer, who served as vice-president of Sudan from 1971 
to 1981.  Most recently, he served as co-chair of the National 
Constitutional Review Commission (NCRC).  While Alier is loosely 
affiliated with the United Sudan African Party (USAP), he is known 
nationally for his political impartiality. 
 
¶2.  (SBU) Abdalla Ahmed Abdalla was nominated as the NEC Deputy 
Chairman.  Abdalla, currently a professor of agriculture at the 
University of Khartoum, is a native of River Nile State (also the 
home state of GoS President Omar Al-Bashir).  He served as the 
Sudanese ambassador to the United States from 1990-1992 and returned 
to Sudan to assume governorships in the Northern State and the River 
Nile State and serve the GoS Minister of Agriculture.  Abdalla is a 
prominent National Congress Party (NCP) figure.  He received his 
college degree from the University of California-Davis in the early 
1960s.  The other seven NEC members include: Ms Fillister Baya, Ms 
Mahassin Haj Al-Saffi, James Bol Kajmal, Abdallah Ballah 
Al-Hardalou, Mohamed Taha Abu Samrah, Mukhtar Al-Asam and Al-Hadi 
Mohamed Ahmed Hassabou. The NEC is composed of three southerners 
(Alier, Baya, and Kajmal) and six northerners. 
 
INFORMED REACTION FAVORABLE 
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - 
¶3. (SBU) On 18 November, Poloff spoke with a variety of informed 
observers of the electoral process.  NEC member Mukhtar Al-Asam, a 
professor of political science at Garden City College, said he is 
glad that the NCP and the SPLM finally agreed on the NEC make-up and 
mentioned that he is "looking forward" to the job and to "clean, 
proper and transparent elections."  He speculated that the NEC 
members would be sworn in and hold their first meeting next week. 
Abdalla Idris (who repeatedly refused requests that he take the NEC 
Deputy Chairmanship, due to his doubts that credible elections can 
be held within such a limited timeframe) told poloff on 18 November 
that the NEC members that he knows are good, upstanding and 
experienced individuals (ref B).  Idris said that Dr. Mahassin Haj 
Al-Saffi, currently the Dean of the Faculty of Arts at Omdurman 
Ahlia University (and a Former Dean of the Faculty of Arts at the 
University of Khartoum) is very independent and hails from a 
well-respected family in Sudan.  Mohamed Taha Abu Samrah is a 
colleague of Idris' at the University of Khartoum Faculty of Law. 
Idris described Samrah as "very experienced" and mentioned he 
received his PhD in France. Idris also commented on the NEC Deputy 
Chairman Abdalla Abdalla, who is a professor of agriculture at the 
University of Khartoum.  According to Idris, Abdalla was an 
"experienced and able" minister in Sudan.  "Abdalla accepted the 
Deputy Chairman position reluctantly," said Idris.  Abdalla is in 
his late 70s, as is NEC Chairman Alier, he continued.  "The people 
selected as commission members that I know are good people," said 
Idris, "but only time will tell" if this Commission is a good one. 
"Let us watch and see," he concluded. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Poloff also met with influential SPLM member of parliament 
Manoah Aligo Donga on 18 November.  Overall, Donga was positive 
about the establishment of the NEC.  Donga said that southern NEC 
member James Bol Kajmal previously served as a Deputy Governor in 
the South and was also a member of Parliament in 1958.  Kajmal has 
also worked in the private sector.  Donga said that while he is not 
very familiar with NEC member Fillister Baya, she is a trained 
accountant and currently works at the Ivory Bank in Khartoum. 
 
Comment 
- - - - 
¶5. (SBU) While more than three months overdue, the establishment of 
the National Electoral Commission is a major step forward for the 
SPLM and the NCP.  We hope its establishment signifies the start of 
true electoral planning by the Government of National Unity. Initial 
reactions in Khartoum to the NEC, ranging from SPLM parliamentarians 
to well-respected academics, are positive.  At the same time, there 
is considerable concern in the community about whether  the NEC will 
be able to hold fair and credible elections at six-levels of 
government without additional reforms, such as a new media/press act 
and security law.  Another concern is the CPA timetable, which calls 
for elections by July 9, 2009.  If anything is certain it is that 
the NEC has its work cut out for it.  As the Chair and Deputy Chair, 
Alier and Abdalla must assume their roles full-time per the 
electoral law; the other seven members will only be expected to work 
 
KHARTOUM 00001685  002 OF 002 
 
 
part-time on the elections.  The NEC's first order of business will 
be to review the feasibility of conducting elections by July 2009 
and to determine the election's date. 
 
FERNANDEZ