This year’s elections and constitutional negotiations will test the Islamist clique which has held power since the 1989 putsch
Bolstered by its formidable security organisation, the ruling National Congress Party (NCP, aka National Islamic Front, NIF) is widely expected to win the national elections due in April (AC Vol 50 No 25). The credibility of these elections is critical: if they are blatantly or even subtly rigged, as many are sure they will be, it will undermine the referendum on Southern independence, due to follow in mid-2011, along with the simultaneous referendum in Abyei on joining the South or staying with the North.
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