Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Egypt to the north, Eritrea to the northeast, Ethiopia to the southeast, Libya to the northwest, South Sudan to the south, and the Red Sea. It has a population of 45.7 million people as of 2022 and occupies 1,886,068 square kilometres, making it Africa's third-largest country by area and the third-largest by area in the Arab League. It was the largest country by area in Africa and the Arab League until the secession of South Sudan in 2011; since then both titles have been held by Algeria. Its capital and most populous city is Khartoum.
Currently, the politics of Sudan takes place in the framework of a federal provisional government. Previously, a president was head of state, head of government, and commander-in-chief of the Sudanese Armed Forces in a de jure multi-party system. Legislative power was officially vested in both the government and in the two chambers, the National Assembly (lower) and the Council of States (higher), of the bicameral National Legislature. The judiciary is independent and obtained by the Constitutional Court. However, following a deadly civil war and the still ongoing genocide in Darfur, Sudan was widely recognized as a totalitarian state where all effective political power was held by President Omar al-Bashir and his National Congress Party (NCP). However, al-Bashir and the NCP were ousted in a military coup which occurred on April 11, 2019. The government of Sudan was then led by the Transitional Military Council or TMC. On 20 August 2019, the TMC dissolved giving its authority over to the Sovereignty Council of Sudan, who were planned to govern for 39 months until 2022, in the process of transitioning to democracy. However, the Sovereignty Council and the Sudanese government were dissolved in October 2021.
Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir is a Sudanese former military officer and politician who served as Sudan's head of state under various titles from 1989 until 2019, when he was deposed in a coup d'état. He was subsequently incarcerated, tried and convicted on multiple corruption charges. He came to power in 1989 when, as a brigadier general in the Sudanese Army, he led a group of officers in a military coup that ousted the democratically elected government of prime minister Sadiq al-Mahdi after it began negotiations with rebels in the south; he subsequently replaced President Ahmed al-Mirghani as head of state. He was elected three times as president in elections that have been under scrutiny for electoral fraud. In 1992, al-Bashir founded the National Congress Party, which remained the dominant political party in the country until 2019. In March 2009, al-Bashir became the first sitting head of state to be indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC), for allegedly directing a campaign of mass killing, rape, and pillage against civilians in Darfur. On 11 February 2020, the Government of Sudan announced that it had agreed to hand over al-Bashir to the ICC for trial.
In typical elections, Sudan elects on a national level head of state – the president – and a legislature. In the election of 2010, there were two presidential elections, one for the Presidency of the Republic of Sudan and one for the Presidency of the Government of Southern Sudan. Elections for the unicameral, 360-member National Assembly were last held in April 2015.
The National Congress Party was a major political party that dominated domestic politics in Sudan from its foundation until the Sudanese Revolution.
Salva Kiir Mayardit, also known as Salva Kiir, is a South Sudanese politician who has been the President of South Sudan since its independence on 9 July 2011. Prior to independence, he was the President of the Government of Southern Sudan, as well as First Vice President of Sudan, from 2005 to 2011. He was named Commander-in-Chief of the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) in 2005, following the death of John Garang.
The Council of States was the upper house of the parliament of Sudan from 2005 to 2019. It was established as part of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) which aimed to end the long-standing civil war between the Sudanese government and rebel groups in southern Sudan. The CPA provided for the creation of a bicameral National Legislature, consisting of the Council of States and the National Assembly.
General elections were held in Sudan between 11 and 15 April 2010, extended from the original end date of 13 April. The elections were held to elect the President and National Assembly of Sudan, as well as the President and Legislative Assembly of Southern Sudan. The election brought to the end the transitional period which began when the decades-long Second Sudanese Civil War ended in 2005.
A referendum took place in Southern Sudan from 9 to 15 January 2011, on whether the region should remain a part of Sudan or become independent. The referendum was one of the consequences of the 2005 Naivasha Agreement between the Khartoum central government and the Sudan People's Liberation Army/Movement (SPLA/M).
A referendum on the permanent status of the Darfur within Sudan was held on 11–13 April 2016. It was originally scheduled for 1 and 2 July 2011, but was delayed. The Darfur Peace Agreement signed in May 2006 included the provision for such a referendum to be held throughout the Darfur region to determine the permanent status of that region within the Republic of Sudan. The agreement also established a Darfur Regional Authority to help administer the region in the lead-up to the referendum. The referendum was subject to a boycott, led to student protests and accusations of vote-rigging. The results were announced on 23 April 2016 and were in favour of the retention of the status quo.
United Nations Security Council Resolution 1919, adopted unanimously on April 29, 2010, after recalling resolutions 1674 (2006), 1894 (2009) on the protection of civilians in armed conflict, 1612 (2005) and 1882 (2009) on children in armed conflict, 1502 (2003) on the protection of humanitarian and United Nations personnel, and 1325 (2000), 1820 (2008), 1888 (2009), and 1889 (2009) on women, peace, and security, the Council extended the mandate of the United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) until April 30, 2011 with the intention of renewing it further if necessary.
Fatima Abdel Mahmoud was a Sudanese politician, leader of the Sudanese Socialist Democratic Union. In 1973 she was one of the first women to hold political office in Sudan, and she took part in the April 2010 Sudanese general election as the country's first female presidential candidate.
Nayagram is an assembly constituency in Jhargram district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is reserved for scheduled tribes.
Ghatal is an assembly constituency in Paschim Medinipur district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is reserved for scheduled castes.
South Sudan, officially the Republic of South Sudan, is a landlocked country in eastern Central Africa. It is bordered by Ethiopia, Sudan, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, and Kenya, and includes the vast swamp region of the Sudd, formed by the White Nile and known locally as the Bahr al Jabal, meaning "Mountain Sea". The population was 11,088,796 in 2023, and Juba is the capital and largest city. South Sudan gained independence from Sudan on 9 July 2011, making it the most recent sovereign state or country with widespread recognition as of 2024.
South Sudan has never had a national election. However the most recent sub-national election was in 2010 for the presidency of the regional government of Southern Sudan and for the bicameral, 170-member Legislative Assembly.
Gatluak Gai was a member of the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) who rebelled after the April 2010 elections and led a renegade militia in the volatile Unity state of South Sudan.
Angelina Jany Teny is a South Sudanese politician who served as Minister of Defence since March 2020.
Corruption in Sudan is substantial, as it is considered one of the most corrupt nations in the world. On the 2010 World Bank Worldwide Governance Indicators, on one hundred point scale, it scored in the single digits in every category, including 0.9 for political stability, 6.2 for rule of law, 7.2 for regulatory quality, 6.7 for government effectiveness, and 4.3 for control of corruption. In 2011 Freedom House named Sudan as one of the worst nations for human rights.
Elections were held in Jonglei State on 10–15 April 2010 as part of the 2010 Sudanese general election, with voting for President of Sudan, National Assembly of Sudan, President of Southern Sudan, Southern Sudan Legislative Assembly, Governor of Jonglei State and the Jonglei State Legislative Assembly. The elections were the first in Sudan for over two decades, held in the aftermath of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement between the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) and the Government of Sudan of Omar al-Bashir. The election was carried out in precarious security conditions, with ethnic conflicts prevalent in the state. The elections were won by the SPLM, with the exception of a handful of seats. Disputes over the election results led to the outbreak of two armed insurgencies.
