The National Congress Party (NCP) has governed Sudan since it was founded out of the National Islamic Front (NIF) in the mid 1990’s. The NCP’s leadership and political ideology did not change significantly after the name change with some analysts viewing the change as a re-branding exercise.
2010 Elections
In the 2010 general election the NCP won held 324 out of 450 seats in Sudan’s National Assembly and 25 out of 50 in the Sudanese Council of States.
Leadership
Chairman / Leader: Sudan’s president Omar Hassan Ahmed al-Bashir
Deputy Chairman: Presidential Adviser, Nafie Ali Nafie
Political Secretary: Hassabo Mohamed Abdel Rahman
Background
Headquarters: Khartoum
Founded: 1998
Ideology
Islamism | Nationalism | Sunni Islamism | Conservatism | Arab nationalism | Pan-Arabism | Anti-Zionism
Official colours: Green
Official Website: The National Congress
Background
This background on the NCP is taken from The Sudanese press after separation – Contested identities of journalism. MICT 2012, Page 43.
The ruling National Congress Party (NCP)was formally founded in 1998 and has been led by President Al Bashir ever since. Its Islamist roots go back to the Muslim Brotherhood, which was founded in the 1940s, the Islamic Charter Front (ICF), which was formed in the 1960s, and its successor party the National Islamic Front (see PC).
Bashir came to power in 1989 through a military takeover, the “National Salvation Revolution” (Ingaz) that opposed the traditional sectarianism in Sudanese politics. A power struggle between Bashir and long-time Islamist leader Sheikh Turabi resulted in the departure of Turabi’s followers, who later founded the Popular Congress (see PC).
While strongly criticized by the opposition for its domestic policies, especially its harsh reaction to the rebellion in Darfur (see JEM), the NCP has been widely credited for settling the second civil war in the South through the CPA in 2005. In the 2010 general elections, which were boycotted by some major parties, the NCP won 324 out of 450 seats in the national parliament and majorities in all the state assemblies. While the polls were criticized by observers for legal and administrative flaws, many analysts agree that the result did represent more or less the extent to which the NCP enjoys popular support, especially in the center of the country.
After the secession of the South, the NCP included the DUP and some smaller parties in the government. In early 2012, the party’s Leadership Council approved a major reshuffle in its top rank, apparently to accommodate some headmen left out of the cabinet, and to integrate influential functionaries of the Islamic Movement, especially younger members with regard to the Arab Spring. The main competing factions are led by First Vice President Ali Osman Taha and Presidential Advisor Dr. Nafi Ali Nafi.
NCP Videos
Al Jazeera English | Bashir calls South Sudan leaders ’insects’ | 19 April 2012
Speaking at a party rally in Khartoum, Omar al-Bashir, the Sudanese president, has called the government of South Sudan a movement of "insects". Bashir’s statement came as Sudan insisted it would reclaim the oil rich Heglig region after South Sudanese soldiers took over the oil field in the disputed territory along the two nations’ border. The leaders of South Sudan have vowed to fight to keep control of Heglig and the oil facility within it, which they say has always been part of their land. Al Jazeera’s Imran Khan reports.
BBC Hard Talk | July 2011
The Guardian | Omar al-Bashir talks to the Guardian | 20 April 2011
Reviled in the west, the Sudanese president gives his first interview to a western news organisation since he was charged with genocide in Darfur. He tells Simon Tisdall why he refuses to surrender to the international criminal court
Al Jazeera English | Al-Bashir gathers supporters in Darfur | 18 March 2009
Al Jazeera English | Frost Over the World - President Omar al-Bashir | 20 June 2008
Al Jazeera English | Talk to Jazeera - Omar Hassan Al Bashir - 09 Nov 2007
Omar Hassan Al Bashir, President of Sudan, talks exclusively to Al Jazeera’s Mohamed Vall Salem.
Al Jazeera English | 2005 Sudan peace deal in jeopardy | 11 Oct. 2007
A new politicial divide could be opening up in Sudan, after the main opposition party from the south announced it’s suspending work participation in the government. The Sudan people’s Liberation Movement says its ministers and officials won’t be turning up for work with what’s supposed to be a national unity government. They say their political partners from the north have failed to meet a long list of demands, agreed to in a 2006 peace deal. That deal ended 20 years of fighting between southern rebels and the government in Khartoum.
The following ads are provided by Google. SudanTribune has no authority on it.
Latest Comments & Analysis
On Abyei enough is enough 2013-06-18 05:01:47 By Deng Vanang June 17, 2013 - No one whether locally or internationally can still argue there is more hope to resolve Abyei stalemate peacefully. It has been everybody’s wish that dialogue could (...)
The arming of rebels in Sudan and South Sudan: what is the evidence? 2013-06-18 04:57:44 By Eric Reeves 17 June 2013 - News reporting in general, a great deal of analytic writing, and virtually all diplomatic pronouncements about military support for rebel groups—in South Sudan and (...)
Bashir’s decision, a material breach of the oil agreement 2013-06-16 06:21:14 By Justice Deng Biong June 15, 2013 - After its ratification by the National legislatures in both South Sudan and Sudan States, the Cooperation Agreement [CA] (Oil Agreement included) signed on (...)
MORE