By Mohamed al-Khatem
KHARTOUM
Sudan's ruling National Congress Party on Saturday selected incumbent President Omar al-Bashir to be its candidate in Sudan's next presidential elections, which are slated for April, a party source said.
The source told Anadolu Agency that 90 percent of the party's 6,250 members had backed al-Bashir's bid in the next presidential elections.
The party's Shura Council, the highest organizational body, selected al-Bashir last week to be the party's candidate in the presidential elections.
Party members started in the morning on Saturday voting to select the party's candidate in the next presidential elections under strict organizational measures, according to the source.
He said the result of the voting would be declared later on Saturday.
Sudan's opposition had earlier said that it would boycott the presidential elections, noting that it would also boycott the parliamentary elections and the elections of the governors of Sudan's 18 states.
Al-Bashir had in January invited the opposition for national dialogue, but the opposition boycotted this dialogue too.
It makes its participation in the dialogue conditional on the postponement of the elections, the formation of a committee to draft a permanent constitution and holding fair and honest elections in Sudan.
The Sudanese President had several times turned down the notion of postponing the elections, saying this would usher in a constitutional vacuum in his country.
Al-Bashir, 70, reached power after a military coup that was backed by Sudan's Islamists in 1989. He was reelected in 2010 in polls that were also largely boycotted by the opposition.
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