Elections are Under Way

The elections started yesterday and are scheduled to go through Tuesday. So far there has been no violence, praise God. As this is their first election, things are a little (a lot!) disorganized. People went to the location where they registered and are being told their name is not on the list. Each location can only do 1000 people, so some people's names were transferred to another location. They have no way of communicating that to people so it has been confusing. People arrive expecting to vote and they are told to check another polling station. Today I went with Sabet when he voted and we had to go to 5 polling stations before we found his name. Most places seemed legit, but one location was suspect. First they told Sabet his name was on the list, then they said, it's ok just vote here anyway. Then a child told us he was allowed to vote. Needless to say, Sabet did not vote there. We had two visitors stay with us for two nights from the European Union. They were traveling around Sudan observing the elections. Their agency's job is to determine if the election is fair. According to them, while the process has been frustrating, the polling officials have been honest. Here are a few pictures:



(Some kids in front of one of the polling stations)



(This is the SPLM representative. Most people here voted for him)



(Waiting inline for the ballots)



(Sabet voting)