Press Release

The NCP's Unprecedented Abuse

May 13, 2002

The ruling National Congress Party (NCP) has recently passed amendments on the regime's constitution that offered the president more executive and political powers to allow him to rule for an indefinite term of office as a despotic self-appointed head of state.

According to the NCP's amendments, a constitutional provision that limits the president's office to only 2 five-year terms will be cancelled. As approved by the NCP Shura [Consultative] Council, other amendments include serious violation of the right of Sudan Regions (Willayat) to elect their own governors. Thus, the president will exercise additional legislative powers besides the many others he is already enjoying.

One of the amendments approves the NCP Shura's call for legislators to choose state governors by direct selection, instead of electoral vote. This amendment scraps the current system of electing governors by the public at large in the country's 26 states that hardly guarantees popular participation in decision making under the suppression of political freedoms by the NCP's single party police state.

Another amendment envisions the setting up of an Electoral College in each of the 26 state. The amendment, however, would authorize the regime's "parliamentarian members," state legislators and heads of municipal councils, to choose 3 to 6 candidates for the position of governor in a list that would be subsequently submitted to the president. By this amendment, the president will act as the only authority to select the governor from among candidates of a bureaucratically selected non-popular list.

The other amendments would make it possible for the president, as the highest executive office, to share legislative powers with the National Council (the regime's parliament). In addition, any constitutional amendment will not be effective unless personally approved by the president.

With these non-democratic amendments, the regime shows beyond any doubt that it is determined to hinder all of the ongoing national, regional, and international efforts to establish a workable settlement for the political crisis of the country with the democratic opposition of Sudan.

If the regime is sincere about peace making, it should immediately abandon all constitutional amendments to help finalize a political agreement with the democratic opposition to enable the People of Sudan to decide what constitutional law the country needs.

SHRO-Cairo strongly rejects all these NCP's amendments that aim to entrench the most notorious one-candidate one-party presidential system of rule with additional legislative and executive abuses of power in the NCP-controlled authoritarian State that is already rampant with the formerly NIF's primitive thought and evil practices.

The organization calls for the abrogation of the regime's constitution as a non-democratic tool of authority.

The Government of Sudan must undertake serious negotiation with the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) as the most eligible democratic force to run the country with a national, stable, and peaceful system of rule.

The next democratic rule of Sudan must carry out a Comprehensive Political Solution (CPS) for the political crisis of Sudan. The CPS should be enforced through the establishment of permanent and fair peace, exercising the right to self-determination, and developing the nation under the rule of law, prevalence of civil freedoms, and constitutionality of international human rights norms.

The next transition government should insure the Right of People to enjoy the freedom of thought and expression, peaceful assembly, and election of candidates by popular vote to take up all executive, legislative, and judicial powers as separate government branches in a regular democracy.