La répartition des domaines de compétences des cinq sous-commissions devrait être révisée : la sous-commission Opérations électorales et la sous-commission Matériels et logistique devraient être rapprochées. La CENI bénéficierait grandement de la mise en place d’une équipe de juristes en son sein.

La mise en place d’un programme national d’insertion des femmes, à tous les échelons des institutions administratives et politiques, est nécessaire.

Il apparaît nécessaire d’établir une méthodologie écrite du contrôle de régularité des résultats effectué par la Cour constitutionnelle. Les observateurs et représentants de candidats pourraient observer cette étape cruciale de vérification et de recomptage avant la proclamation des résultats définitifs.

The Sudanese Code of Conduct for electoral observation should be changed to comply with international standards for election observation.

The NEC should maintain a gender-disaggregated database of election-related information including the number and proportion of female registered voters by state, and a state level comparison with their share of the population.

A gender policy should be adopted and a senior person should be made responsible for its implementation, with the aim of increasing women’s participation in electoral processes and at all levels within the election administration.

Female candidates and elected representatives should be provided with assistance and training. Initiatives should be created to raise awareness of the importance of women’s participation among both men and women in political parties.

All complaints should be promptly assessed and investigated where required:
i. A system for management of all complaints lodged at all levels of the election administration should be provided by law.
ii. Protocols/agreements should be developed with other state agencies to clarify roles and responsibilities in the complaints process, particularly with regard to investigations.
iii. Investigation of a complaint should not be undertaken by a person originally responsible for implementation (of what?).
iv. Full records of complaints, responses, decisions and outcomes to be made available by the NEC for immediate scrutiny. All court records related to electoral complaints should be retained by the NEC or separate complaints body.
v. For complaints relating to election results, the law should clarify the power to undertake re-counts and re-polls wherever necessary in order to speedily address alleged problems in an efficient manner, without recourse to cumbersome and costly legal channels.
vi. The category of those permitted to file election appeals should be expanded, to include political parties, civil society organisations and voters.
vii. Public information and training for political party and candidate agents and election staff on how to use the complaint and appeal process should be developed.
viii. Jurisdiction on election appeals should be accessible in all parts of Sudan.

Appeals should be sent to a special panel of legal figures from the current and former judiciary and the legal experts inside and outside Sudan.

The NEC should use one single computerized system to enter results, with the necessary safeguards.

In order to guarantee the transparency of the establishment of election results, copies of the polling station election results should be made available to political party agents, candidate representatives and domestic.

All responsible electoral staff should be fully under the central management and fully accountable to the NEC in the application of a clear policy on causes for quarantining and removing from quarantine, and allowing re-counts or cancelling of whole or partial results. The process of auditing quarantined ballots or results should be treated as a counting process for the purpose of transparency and observation rights.

Amendments to polling procedures should ensure that reconciliation is effective, i.e. that the number of names marked in the voter list be reconciled with the number of ballot papers issued.

The establishment of polling centres and polling stations should aim at the reduction of the distance that voters have to travel on election days.

Consideration of absentee voting in order to reduce the disenfranchisement of IDPs, nomads, migrant workers and temporarily displaced persons. This would limit the special provisions so far established for the registration and polling of security agents and would reduce the fear that registration in temporary places for IDPs would have negative consequences. A review of NEC regulations and procedures should be undertaken and amendments made accordingly.

Consulting regularly with observer groups.

Making all election related documents at all levels of the election administration available to the public, without undue administrative burden.

Making public a schedule of its meetings, all resulting decisions and all internal instructions issued.

It should include necessary professional staff and skills, independent from political parties, and establish an appropriate structure to manage the process:
i. By establishing departments dealing with legal issues and complaints, logistics/operations, training, and voter information and implementation of expenditure ceilings and work management plans for each activity;
ii. By detailing the timing and sequencing of the election process and producing operational plans to be implemented by the NEC.
iii. By undertaking continuous, institutionalized consultation with stakeholders, in particular with political parties and civil society down to constituency level.

The election administration should be reformed in order to effectively decentralise its administration in States, providing the necessary human and financial resources.

Consideration should be given to provision of state funding as well as indirect funding (such as free time on public television and radio) to provide a more equal playing field and to reduce dependency on wealthy contributors. Clear and transparent rules for such funding should be established and consistently applied.

The Code of Conduct for Political Parties and Contesting Candidates should include a requirement for election contenders not to use public resources for campaign purposes. Clear instructions should be issued and enforced to ensure that state officials do not interfere in the election process and that state assets are not used to the advantage of any party or candidate. Any impropriety should be immediately responded to and should include a penalty for those responsible.

The requirement of literacy and soundness of mind should be narrowly defined to exclude as few citizens as possible from standing as candidates.

The establishment of the Electoral Register and the voters lists should be:
i. subject to a professional and transparent auditing exercise;
ii. displayed effectively and in a timely manner to the public;
iii. reviewed and revised continuously and comprehensively to identify and eliminate inaccuracies, multiple entries and records of ineligible, ghost or deceased voters.

The legal immunities for the NEC and its members in the NEA should be reviewed and replaced by a defence of fair attempt to carry out the NEC functions properly.