IOM Organizes Out-of-Country Registration and Voting for Sudanese Referendum
IOM is organizing the out-of-country registration and voting (OCRV)
for a referendum on 9 January 2011 to decide whether Southern Sudan
remains part of a unified Sudan or secedes.
The referendum, which will allow the people of Southern Sudan to
exercise the right to self determination, is part of the
Comprehensive Peace Agreement of 2005 that ended more than two
decades of conflict in Africa's largest nation.
The decision follows the signing of an agreement between IOM and
the Southern Sudan Referendum Commission (SSRC) consistent with the
specific role assigned to IOM in the Referendum Act for
enfranchising Southern Sudanese abroad.
The Act, which spells out the modalities of the referendum
within and outside of Sudan, states IOM's responsibilities as
"assist[ing] in the organization and supervision of the procedures
of registration, polling, sorting, counting and declaration of the
results".
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Justice, Sudan
The eight countries where the OCRV will take place –
Australia, Canada, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, the United
Kingdom and the United States of America – have been
identified by those who drafted the Act as areas outside of Sudan
with significantly large numbers of Southern Sudanese people.
Nevertheless, Southern Sudanese in other countries who meet
eligibility criteria can also participate by registering and voting
in one of the named countries.
Those eligible to register and vote according to the Referendum
Act are Sudanese who can prove residential, indigenous or ancestral
links to Southern Sudan.
Registration and voting will be carried out in neutral centres
in the eight capital cities, and subject to confirmation by the
SSRC, elsewhere in those countries where there are concentrations
of more than 20,000 eligible voters.
Although exact numbers of eligible voters are unknown, Kenya and
Uganda host the largest numbers of Southern Sudanese.
Registration will begin on 14 November and end on 21 November.
Voting in the referendum will begin on 9 January and last seven
days.
"The out-of-country voting constitutes a huge responsibility,"
says IOM Chief of Mission in Sudan Jill Helke. "The Referendum is a
key step in completing the tasks set out for the six years
following the signing of the peace agreement in 2005, and a
historic moment in Sudan's history. IOM will be working
closely with the SSRC, the UN and the eight host governments to
enfranchise as many eligible Southern Sudanese as possible in the
given timeframe."
IOM requires an estimated USD 25 million for carrying out the
OCRV.
The Organization, which has long supported the inclusion of
migrant communities including refugees and the displaced in
democratic electoral processes in their countries of origin, has
unprecedented experience in out-of-country voting.
Since 1996, IOM has assisted eligible nationals in 74 countries
to exercise their right to vote. More than 1.832 million votes have
been cast in IOM-organized out-of-country elections in mainly
post-conflict situations such as for Bosnia Herzegovina, East
Timor, Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq.
The English and Arabic versions of the Sudan Referendum Act are
available on the website of Sudan's Ministry of Justice,
"paragraph-link-no-underline" href="http://www.moj.gov.sd/" target=
"_blank">http://www.moj.gov.sd/.
For further information, please contact:
Jill Helke
IOM Sudan
Tel: +249 922 406 661
Jean-Philippe Chauzy
IOM Geneva
Tel: + 41 22 717 9316
E-mail:
"mailto:pchauzy@iom.int">pchauzy@iom.int
Jemini Pandya
IOM Geneva
Tel: + 41 22 717 9486, +41 79 217 3374
E-mail:
"mailto:jpandya@iom.int">jpandya@iom.int
Niurka Pineiro
IOM Washington, D.C.
Tel: +1201 862 1826, ext 225
E-mail:
"mailto:npineiro@iom.int">npineiro@iom.int