January 6, 2020 (KHARTOUM) - A leading member of the Forces for Freedom and Change (FFC), the ruling coalition in Sudan, said that they are discussing the representation of political forces in the Legislative Council which will be announced after the signing of peace agreements.

The FFC Central Council - the highest authority in the coalition - has begun a series of meetings since last Saturday to discuss several issues, including the appointment of the Transitional Legislative Council, the selection of state governors and the peace process.

"The meetings will determine how political forces are represented in the Legislative Council, but the official announcement (of its members) will be linked to the outcome in the peace process," said Kamal Bollad FFC Central Council member in statements to Sudan Tribune on Monday.

Bollad added that the Legislative Council will be formed without the armed groups if the parties in Juba fail to reach a peace agreement.

"We hope that the peace talks will reach an agreement before the formation of the Legislative Council," but "in the case of failure to strike a deal, it is normal that the Council be formed because it has other tasks such as enacting laws and controlling the performance of the executive."

The transitional Constitutional Document signed between the ruling coalition and the former military council on August 22, provides that transitional parliament be formed within 3 months.

However, it was later agreed to delay it due to the opposition of the alliance of the armed group Sudanese Revolutionary Front (SRF) which demand to negotiate their representation in the transitional parliament which will discuss and adopt Sudan’s permanent constitution.

In line with the transitional constitution, the legislative power is exercised by the joint meeting of the Sovereign Council and the Council of Ministers.

The FFC will get the majority of seats in the appointed transitional parliament as they will get 67% of the Transitional Legislative Council. the remaining seats (33%) will be allocated to the political forces that supported the revolution even if they are not members of the coalition.

State Governors

In a related development, Boulad said, the FFC Central Council has not yet adopted the final list of nominees for governors, denying previous statements by some of its components.

He said that the leaks of some proposed names were not done "in good faith" because the process of selecting the governors has not yet completed.

The Civil Forces and the National Umma Party rejected the nominations by the FFC sections at the state level saying the process was based on political quotas between the local groups.

The same for the SRF groups which calls to delay the appointment of the 18 governors because they want to participate in the process particularly for their regions.

(ST)