1986 Sudanese parliamentary election
Parliamentary elections were held in Sudan between 1 and 12 April 1986 to elect members of the National Assembly. They were the first multi-party elections in the country since 1968, taking place one year after the overthrow of President Gaafar Nimeiry by the military. The National Umma Party, led by Sadiq al-Mahdi, emerged as the largest party, winning 100 of the 260 filled seats. It was followed by the Democratic Unionist Party with 63 and the National Islamic Front with 51. No single party secured a majority, leading to the formation of a fragile coalition government.
The election took place amidst the Second Sudanese Civil War, and voting was postponed indefinitely in 41 seats in Southern Sudan due to security concerns. The election was among the freest and fairest elections in Africa up to that time. There were no reports by observers of electoral fraud.
To date, these are the last free elections held in Sudan.
Issues
Nimeiri's rule and aftermath
The 1969 Sudanese coup d'état disrupted Sudan's evolving electoral landscape, temporarily halting the political development but not eliminating it entirely. The beneficiary of this time was the National Islamic Front. Unlike most other parties, which were banned or forced to operate underground, the Muslim Brotherhood, which was linked to the INF, was permitted to participate in government, occupy judicial positions, and operate relatively openly. This enabled the INF to consolidate and expand its influence during a time of widespread political repression. The long-term consequences of this era were economic decline, social dislocation, and political confusion.In the month following the 1985 Sudanese coup d'état, political activity surged, with 48 political groups being established or revived, most signing the Charter of the National Alliance. The INF was one of the major parties rejecting the charter as it called for constitutional revision, a secular constitution, had the Sudanese Communist Party as a member, and for negotiating with the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement.
Modern forces
Some alliance members advocated for special representation of the "modern forces", as many as half the seats. They argued that these forces had played a leading role in the popular uprising that led to Gaafar Nimeiry's downfall and thus deserved guaranteed representation to safeguard their achievements. Others argued for a more narrow definition, limiting special representation to post-secondary graduates, as had been the case in previous democratic elections, citing the high illiteracy rate among the population. The first idea was rejected by the Transitional Military Council.September Laws
In September 1983, Nimeiri implemented his version of Sharia law known as the September Laws. The laws were highly controversial, particularly for their harsh and punitive elements. Despite widespread criticism, the TMC neither annulled the laws nor introduced a new, non-punitive penal code.Second Sudanese Civil War
In the South, the Second Sudanese Civil War was raging between the Sudanese government and the SPLM, a South Sudanese rebel group demanding more representation for Southern Sudan. In addition to the SPLM, various other insurgent groups had been active in different regions of the country. The alliance members engaged in meetings and negotiations with the SPLM in an effort to find common ground and explore paths toward peace.Foreign relations
At the time, the United States was the largest aid donor to Sudan; however, relations began to strain after the TMC re-established ties with Muammar Gaddafi's Libya. Soon after, Libya shut down an anti-Sudanese radio station operating within its borders and pledged to cease its support for the southern rebels.Parties
Tradition-based parties
The Democratic Unionist Party and National Umma Party drew their support from traditional religious loyalties of well-established Muslim sects, which, while gradually declining, still held considerable influence in northern Sudan. Both of these groups had been dominant until the 1969 coup.Democratic Unionist Party
The DUP evolved out of the Ashiqqa Party, a party established by western-educated, urban Sudanese. While this meant leading Unionists were secularly inclined elite, its rural base was anchored in the Khatmiyya, the largest tariqa in northern Sudan. As the Mirghani family, hereditary leaders of the Khatmiyya, had enjoyed favor under colonial rule, the tariqa, and later by extension the party that it supported, drew support from groups influenced by administrative and economic factors, the northern riverine tribes and the commercial classes in the towns. This uneasy alliance came as a result of the Unma Party being founded by Abdul Rahman al-Mahdi, Imam of the Ansar, the largest Muslim sect and traditional rivals of the Khatmiyya. Traditionally, the Unionists were pro-Egyptian.During Nimeiri's rule, the urban wing of the party, the National Unionist Party, was led by Sharif al-Hindi, who died in exile in 1982 after refusing to return to Sudan. Within the country, the party's local branches, which had functioned more as electoral vehicles than as organized political institutions, fell into decline. Meanwhile, Muhammad Osman al-Mirghani, the head of the Khatmiyya, kept a distance from active politics and made no clear statements on the September Laws. Nevertheless, some of his followers held senior administrative positions within Nimeiri's government.
Consequently, by the time of the uprising, the DUP was left relatively leaderless and without a coherent platform or structure. The NUP branch was revived under Ali Mahmud Hasanain, who advocated for a multilingual, multiracial, multireligious, and non-sectarian Sudan. They supported decentralisation to ensure more equitable distribution of the country's wealth.
The mainstream DUP was more conservative on social issues, with Mirghani and DUP Secretary General al-Sharif Zein al-Abedeen al-Hindi believing that Sharia should remain the law of the land, supporting revision to Nimeiri's code but not annulment. It also criticized the effort to negotiate with the SPLM, positioning itself against the NUP. The DUP wished to curb the latter.
The DUP never issued a complete political platform, leaving much to the discretion of individual candidates. Most of them endorsed a parliamentary system, rejected special representation for the modern forces, and advocated for a mixed economy rooted in Islamic principles that still allowed space for private enterprise.
The party lacked a formal nomination process, permitting anyone to run under its banner. This often led to vote-splitting among DUP candidates in the same constituencies, contributing to electoral losses.
National Umma Party
Abd al-Rahman had built extensive agricultural enterprises in the White Nile area, providing employment for thousands of Ansar immigrants from the west, and using the profits to increase his following by patronising local shaykhs and a minority section of the emerging Khartoum intelligentsia, benefiting the future party. In the mid-1960s, Umma split between conservatives led by the Ansar Imam Al-Hadi al-Mahdi, the second son of Abd al-Rahman, and a younger, reform-minded element represented by his Oxford-educated nephew, Sadiq al-Mahdi.During Nimeiri's rule, Sadiq repeatedly called for popular elections and accountable public officials, intensifying after the passing of the Stember laws. Another dissident party, the Umma and Ansar Party of Ahmed al-Madhi, an uncle of Sadiq who supported Nimeiri and the law, arose from this. This party did not partake in the election. After the bombing of Aba Island in 1970, Sadiq went into exile in London and Libya. The attack led to the death of Al-Hadi, who was killed while attempting to flee to Ethiopia. Sadiq maintained good relations with Libya.
After Nimeiri's fall, Sadiq undertook efforts to reorganize and reinvigorate the party by bringing in young intellectuals and activists, while also maintaining the party's traditional Ansar base. The party platform envisioned the establishment of a modern Islamic society grounded in principles of human dignity and personal freedom, opposing the September laws. It advocated for a legal system based on the Quran, Sunnah, and other legislative sources, provided they did not conflict with each other. The envisioned government structure included both a president and a parliament, alongside empowered regional administrations, proportional representation, more modern forces representation, and a fair distribution of development and investment across sectors and regions. He also emphasized the protection of civil liberties and religious freedom.
Sadiq wished for the party to be in the center of the political spectrum, wanting it to serve as a nationwide umbrella party that would attract a wide range of political allies, including unionists, regionalists, and even anti-NIF Muslim Brotherhood. He saw the party as the most legitimate nationalist force in the Sudan, deriving its authority and inspiration from the Mahdist State and opposition to Nimeriri. In his vision, the party would remain faithful to Islamic principles while also accommodating peaceful coexistence with non-Muslims.
Sadiq reserved his political criticism primarily for the NIF. He openly condemned his brother-in-law, Hassan al-Turabi, and the NIF's "blood-thirsty" judiciary for their involvement in supporting Nimeiri's regime and enforcing the September Laws. Sadiq even expressed a desire to see the NIF's political activities curtailed, arguing that the group had been a key component of Nimeiri's system and had actively opposed the popular uprising.