Results in Sudan's first multi-party elections since 1986, originally due Tuesday, have been delayed indefinitely, dpa cited the National Election Commission as saying. The polls were supposed to usher in a new era of democracy in Sudan, which is recovering from a decades-long civil war between the north and south, but instead have drawn widespread criticism from international observers and opposition parties. "We cannot set a definite date to announce the results because [the counting] is a very complicated process," Arabic broadcaster Al Jazeera quoted Hadi Mohammed Ahmed, the head of the NEC, as saying. President Omar al-Bashir, who seized power in a bloodless 1989 coup and is now wanted by the International Criminal Court for alleged crimes against humanity in the restive Darfur province, is expected to win comfortably after his main rivals boycotted the election. The opposition said that the polls were being rigged and expressed concern over insecurity in Darfur. Southern Sudan's main party, the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM), still contested presidential, parliamentary and municipal elections in the autonomous region, while smaller parties took part in the vote in the north. Despite the problems, the SPLM agreed to abide by the results when they are announced. Voting was extended to five days from the originally scheduled three days due to problems with ballot deliveries and voter registration. Observer missions from the European Union and the US-based Carter Centre have said the polls did not meet international standards. A video circulated on YouTube Tuesday claimed to show election officials stuffing ballot boxes in the eastern Red Sea state. In the video, men wearing red bibs stuffed folded papers into ballot boxes. However, there was no way to verify its authenticity, despite claims by small opposition parties it proved that the election was being stolen. Ahmed dismissed the video, saying the NEC would not investigate anything that appeared on the internet. Analysts say the election result could impact on a January 2011 referendum on independence for Southern Sudan, which was agreed upon in the 2005 peace deal that ended the war between the mainly Muslim north and Christian and Animist South. There are fears raised tensions could lead to violence at the referendum.
