Around 1 Million Southern Sudanese Are Registered For The Referendum

24 November 2010 – (Juba) – Close to one million southern Sudanese have registered within Sudan in the first week of the referendum voter registration exercise that started on November 15th.

The registration for the January 9th, 2011 plebiscite vote has been marred by low turn out due to bad infrastructures, communication inabilities and skepticism over freedom in the north and the neighboring countries.

The coordinator for operations at the South Sudan Referendum Bureau, Doctor Achier Deng Akol addressed the press in Juba on Tuesday.

[Dr. Achier Deng]: “During the first week of the registration, we managed to be in contact with 891 referendum centers. Based on the reports we have received from these centers as of close of business on Sunday 21st November, 2010; 997,121 voters have registered. That’s nearly a million people who have registered. Note that the number of centers reporting from the states varies daily, and the centers we are able to be in contact with tends to be in larger urban areas. The ones in the countryside are yet to give us their reports. These figures of nearly a million are from 34 percent of the centers that we have been able to contact. So 66 percent have not been successfully contacted.”

Doctor Achier Deng added that more than forty centers that experienced high turnout of voters have been supplied with more registration materials.

In the same briefing, the chairman of the referendum bureau, Justice Chan Reech revealed that the two symbols of unity and separation for the referendum voting have not yet been produced or delivered to the south for ratification.

[Chan Reech]: “The two symbols have been agreed upon, yes. But it is very difficult for me to say how soon they will come. I know that there are still some issues to be sorted out like the bidding and choosing of a contractor and the order to be paid after that. Until this time it is not clear how soon this will be done. So it is a serious matter. And it looks like there will be some delay for a couple of days before we get them.”

The Southern Sudan Referendum Bureau urged southern Sudanese women to register as he stressed that the registration period ends officially next week.