Kamal Bashir

Too poor to vote in Sudan

Sudan’s controversial elections are in the penultimate day of voting.

The chaos that characterised voting from the onset has created voter apathy and hence, a low turnout continues to be registered at polling stations.

On the outskirts of Khartoum is the Wad Albashir camp for displaced people from South Sudan and the Darfur region, where the bulk of the city's poor and under-privileged live. Here there is no election fever, or any excitement to vote.

The conflict survivors, sheltering in mud and brick shacks, are feeling just as alienated by the running elections process.  Many feel the elections do not concern them. The poverty and hardship these people face, partly explains the muted response they have given to the elections, which present to many the opportunity to vote for the first time.