What's this? This is an unbiased just-the-facts news timeline ('newsline') about Sadeq el-Mahdi, created by Newslines contributors. Become a contributor

Sadeq el-Mahdi

Sadeq el-Mahdi1 post
Latest News view > Click for Biography view
Mar 1996

Wins election

Wins Election0 Comments

Elections are held for a president and a new National Assembly from March 2-28, the first since the coup. 125 members of the 400-seat National Assembly are nominated before the election, leaving 275 seats to be elected (of which 51 were ultimately uncontested). There are  no political parties — all candidates ran as independents. Leaders of the Sudan’s main opposition parties, disbanded when Bashir took power, boycott elections. Ousted Prime Minister Mahdi, calls the elections a cheap attempt by the Government to buy legitimacy.

Bashir is elected president with 75.7% of votes.  He will serve a five-year term, after which he will be allowed to run once more. He tells the crowd:

We have fully returned power in full to the people.

The New York Times reports the  power behind Bashir’s government is widely believed to be the militant Muslim cleric Turabi, who is elected to a seat in Parliament in Khartoum.