Sudan counts the votes

The counting of votes will continue night and day

Vote counting is under way in Sudan after 10-day parliamentary and presidential elections.

Officials say the results will be announced on Monday.

Although there were a number of challengers to President Omar Al-Bashir, the election was boycotted by the main opposition parties and the turn out was reported to be very low.

Bashir is widely expected to win a second term

But a delegation from the Organisation of African Unity has praised the handling of the poll.

It commended the Sudanese election commission and praised the opportunities given to presidential candidates to present themselves through the media.

However, many opposition politicians have accused government officials of abusing their positions to secure the re-election of candidates from the ruling National Congress party.

President Bashir is being challenged by a number of political rivals, including a former military head of state, Jaafer Nimeiri - who was deposed in 1985.

But correspondents say he is unlikely to be defeated in these elections.

There was no voting in rebel-held areas of southern Sudan.

Disputed turn-out

The chairman of the state electoral commission in Khartoum, Bushra Ahmed al-Sheikh, said the turnout in the state was so far averaging 63%.

Hassan al-Turabi: Lost out in power struggle

But a senior official from the Popular National Congress Party, which boycotted the poll, described the election as "a comedy" and said most people had ignored it.

"Despite the temptation and intimidation, the people preferred to stay away and those who actually went to the polls did not exceed 7% of the eligible voters," said Ibrahim al-Sanousi.

Unopposed

The parliament is currently dominated by the ruling National Congress party and nearly one-third of the MPs are being returned unopposed to the 360 seat National Assembly.

The government said it had called the elections to fill the vacuum left when President Bashir dissolved parliament last December.

This followed a split within the Islamist regime when Mr Bashir sidelined Hassan al-Turabi, its former ideologue.

Mr Turabi then formed the Popular National Congress Party and boycotted the elections.

So too did the country's last democratically elected prime minister, Sadiq al-Mahdi, who returned from exile last month, hoping to push for greater political pluralism in Sudan.