苏丹大选开始 初期局势较混乱

Sudan's first multi-party elections in 24 years are going into their second day amid reports of confusion and disarray¹ in many regions.

苏丹24年以来首次多政党选举程序进入第二天，许多地区有报导选举过程混乱、无序。

Election results are expected on 18 April

While the process generally went well in the capital Khartoum, voters faced obstacles（障碍，阻碍） in several states from the Red Sea in the north to the far south.

The dominant²（支配的，统治的） party in the south is calling for a four-day extension.

The presidential, parliamentary and state assembly（装配，集会） polls are part of the deal that ended Sudan's civil war.

BBC Africa editor Martin Plaut, in Khartoum, says Sudan has seen little peace since independence in 1956, and to hold an election as complex as this one, in a country so underdeveloped, was always going to be a tall order.

'A good feeling'

It is widely expected that the country's two most influential³ men, President Omar al-Bashir, and Silva Kiir, who leads largely autonomous⁴（自治的，自主的） Southern Sudan, will retain（保持） their positions.

Mr Bashir is seeking a democratic mandate⁵ since being indicted⁶ by the International Criminal Court for alleged⁷ war crimes in Darfur but a boycott⁸ of the poll by his two main challengers means his mandate（命令，指令） is likely to be reduced.

Mr Kiir, who is standing⁹ unopposed, was forced to wait for his polling station to open in the southern capital Juba but he said afterwards that he had a "good feeling" about the country's political future.

"I have never voted in my life," he said. "This is my first time to vote and it is a good feeling that Sudan is going back to democracy."

Voting in parts of Khartoum was held up by delays in getting ballots¹¹ to polling stations, ballot¹⁰ mix-ups and names missing from the electoral roll, Reuters news agency reports.

In the south, many polling stations opened late and many voters, including senior officials, could not find their names on voter rolls.