Facebook Is No Substitute for an Election, Sudan’s Embattled Leader Says

(Bloomberg) -- Sudan’s embattled president took aim at activists who’re using social media to organize demonstrations calling for his ouster, saying only elections can bring political change in the protest-wracked African nation.

“Changing the government can’t be achieved by using WhatsApp or Facebook, it is only through the ballot box and the Sudanese people are the only body that can determine who is supposed to rule this country,” Omar al-Bashir told a televised rally of his supporters Thursday in Kassala, southeast Sudan.

The president was speaking as nationwide anti-government demonstrations sparked by soaring living costs near their seventh week. Sudanese authorities say 30 people have died in the unrest and pledged to release detained protesters; rights groups and the main opposition party have put the toll significantly higher.

Most major social-media networks have been blocked in Sudan since late December and are only accessible by using virtual private networks. The protests, many of which are promoted by Twitter users, represent one of the biggest challenges to al-Bashir’s rule since he seized power in a 1989 Islamist-backed coup.

A bloc in Sudan’s parliament are pushing on with a proposal to amend the constitution and remove presidential term limits, Al-Fadil Suleiman, a ruling National Congress Party lawmaker, said by phone. Such a step would allow al-Bashir, who’s 75 and serving his final term under a constitution promulgated in 2005, to run for reelection next year.

Suleiman said the proposal, which has the backing of 294 of 490 lawmakers, will be debated in March after parliament reconvenes.

Al-Bashir also announced Thursday the reopening of Sudan’s border with Eritrea, about a year after it closed because of heightened insecurity.

To contact the reporter on this story: Mohammed Alamin in Khartoum at malamin1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: David Malingha at dmalingha@bloomberg.net, Michael Gunn, Karl Maier

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