Sudan facing most complex elections on record: UN

By Andrew Heavens

KHARTOUM Aug 5 (Reuters) - Sudan must overcome "tremendous challenges" to hold a complex election that forms a key part of a peace accord, a U.N. official said on Wednesday.

The vote set for April 2010 is crucial to the success of the accord, which ended a civil war between north and south Sudan, and to the chances of Sudan reaching long-term stability.

It will be the first multi-party elections in Africa's largest country in more than 20 years.

The U.N.'s chief electoral affairs officer in Sudan, Ray Kennedy, told a news briefing the Sudanese organisers were facing a series of problems.

One challenge was the election's complexity, with six votes running at the same time using a range of voting methods.

"I have been working in elections for 20 years and these are the most complex arrangements I have ever been involved in," Kennedy told Reuters after the briefing.

"It is going to make it very difficult for voters to understand. But we were involved with elections in Haiti in the 1990s with multiple votes and many illiterate voters. There are things that can be done to make it work.

Voters will choose Sudan's president, members of parliament, state governors and members of state assemblies. In the south, citizens will also select Southern Sudan's president and members of its legislative assembly.