Vulnerable voters given special consideration in Sudan referendum
Pregnant women, disabled people, women with young children, the sick and the elderly are being given the chance to vote ahead of others, in Southern Sudan’s ongoing secession referendum.
Vulnerable groups of voters are receiving special treatment in the referendum exercise.
Polling officials and local authorities in Yei River County, Central Equatoria State, have confirmed that vulnerable groups of voters are receiving special treatment in the referendum exercise, enabling them to cast their ballots.
At Bros and Company Centre, where just over 4,700 voters are registered, separate queues have been arranged for different categories of vulnerable people.
Centre Chairperson Dada Peter Abdullah said the move was aimed at assisting those who are unable to stand in the lines under the scorching sun. Hundreds of women with children strapped on their backs and elderly people were found either standing or seated in separate (and relatively short) queues, when SUDANVOTES visited the centre.
The referendum – which gives people from Southern Sudan the two options of choosing between continued unity or secession - started on January 9 and is expected to continue for seven days.
The County Taskforce in Yei has made special arrangements to transport sick, disabled and elderly voters who could not trek to voting centres, if they are more than four miles from their homes. Many people are long distances from ballot boxes, because the Southern Sudan Referendum Commission decided to reduce the number of voting centres.
Also, buses hired by the County Taskforce moved along major roads and access routes in rural areas, transporting vulnerable people to and from the centres. Francis Ladu, the owner of one such bus, said he had been hired at a rate of 300 Sudanese Pounds per day for the first three days of the polling.
So far, the vote has proceeded smoothly, without major hitches. Polling staff have been checking people’s voting cards against registers, to maintain transparency. Unlike the general elections in April last year, when some voting registers were accidentally transferred to the wrong polling stations, the process has not been plagued by missing registers, thereby enabling everyone to vote, according to one referendum official.
The 2011 Southern Sudan Referendum is one of the key components of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) signed in Nairobi in January 2005. This pact ended a two decade long civil war between the Arab-dominated government in Khartoum and the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA).
It is widely expected that the people of Southern Sudan, which is currently semi-autonomous, will vote in favour of secession and the creation of a fully independent nation state.
