Sudan election result delayed

The counting of votes will continue night and day

Sudan has delayed the announcement of results from the presidential election until Saturday.

The head of the Sudanese electoral authority said officials had not yet been able to count all the votes.

"Results from the presidential elections will be published in four (working) days, as the figures from several states have not come in yet," the French news agency quoted Abdel Moneim al-Zein al-Nahas as saying.

Bashir is widely expected to win a second term

Correspondents say preliminary results released on Sunday show that President Omar Al-Bashir is set for a sweeping victory.

Although there were a number of challengers to Mr Bashir, the election was boycotted by the main opposition parties, which described the vote as a scam.

Abuse of position'

Mr Nahas said results from the legislative elections, which took place alongside the presidential vote over a 10-day period starting on 13 December, would still be released on time on Monday if figures were received by the election commission.

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

Despite these complaints, 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.

Disputed turn-out

Official reports say that the election turnout averaged at about 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 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.