°®Âþµº

Preliminary and unofficial results coming from polling stations in various parts of Sudan suggest President Omar al-Bashir is ahead of his rivals by a whopping 90 percent of the vote in some areas and proportions close to that in other districts.

The elections, the first since South Sudan gained its independence in 2011, are for the presidency, the parliament and state legislatures.

According to the Anadolu News Agency, preliminary unofficial results from 10 polling stations in Khartoum have shown Bashir in the lead and the candidates of his party, the ruling National Congress Party, also ahead of rival candidates.

Turnout was estimated to be more than 36 percent.

In South Darfur state, more than 90 percent of the votes counted so far at five polling stations went to al-Bashir, though independent parliamentary candidates seem to holding their ground against the candidates of the ruling party there.

Despite the low turnout in Gezira State, central Sudan, al-Bashir also came ahead of his candidates by close to or more than 90 percent in 10 polling stations in the city of Madani, the capital of the state. In the rest of the state, candidates from the ruling party have all but officially won the three parliament seats that have been counted (out of 18 for the state), while the rest are yet to be called.

The National Election Commission in Sudan had expected the turnout in the general election, held Monday through Thursday, to reach 40 percent. By Saturday, the turnout figure was calculated to be in excess of 36 percent as vote counting continued, bearing in mind that polling stations are still open for Sudanese abroad.

According to the Sudanese government, the elections were not affected by the attacks carried out by the South Sudan Sudan People's Liberation Movement - Northern Sector (SPLM-North) in the state of South Kordofan. Mukhtar al-Assam, head of the National Election Commission, said turnout in that state reached 46 percent, dismissing doubts regarding the accuracy of this figure.

The voting in the presidential and legislative election ended on Thursday, amid a boycott by opposition parties and international observers.

This is an edited translation from our Arabic edition.