Sudan’s First Vote After Peace Agreement

From April 11 to 15, 2010, Sudan’s citizens turned out to vote in the first nationwide election held since 1986.  The election, a key milestone of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), marked the first time the vast majority of Sudanese had ever voted and served as an important opportunity for those in the south and Abyei to practice this civic duty in anticipation of the next CPA milestones: the January 2011 Referendum on Southern Sudan’s independence and Abyei Referendum.  Nationally, Omar Hassan al-Bashir was re-elected as President of Sudan with 68% of the vote, and in the South, Salva Kiir Mayardit was re-elected as President of Southern Sudan with just shy of 93% of Southern Sudan’s vote.