Senior official in ruling party says Sudan’s President not standing for re-election

Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir will not stand at the next election as part of a package of reforms aimed at democratizing the country.

The announcement was made by Rabie Abdelati, a senior National Congress Party official who quoted Bashir as declaring that he will not enter the coming elections to compete for the presidency.

Bashir took power in a bloodless coup in 1989. In April 2010 he won presidential elections which many opposition parties boycotted, citing fraud. The next presidential elections are due in four years.

Last week Bashir hinted to youth members of his party that he would retire if the NCP adopted a retirement age of 60 for political posts. But the opposition belittled the move, saying the NCP was trying to head off mass protests and feared contagion from popular uprisings which have ousted the Tunisian and Egyptian presidents.

Abdelati told Reuters Bashir had also offered to step down as head of the NCP, a move he said was part of a wider strategy to democratize the country. "This is an NCP strategy to let different generations fill different positions within the party and government," he said, adding that the NCP was also planning to allow freedom of expression for other political parties. "This will create a democratic environment for the whole of society."