“Not many new faces are likely to come out successful in the elections,” said Yusuf Kemaleddin, a Sudanese university student in Jeddah. “The same old politicians who were in the field over decades will win the elections and there is nothing new to look forward to.” He predicted a landslide for the ruling party of President Omar Bashir.

Waleed Ibrahim, another Sudanese expatriate working at an international marketing company, said the elections would “either maintain the status quo or worsen the two basic issues faced by the country, namely the separatist movement of the south and the Darfur problem.”

Dr. Ahmad Al-Tijani, a doctor working in a government hospital in Jeddah, said he did not expect any surprises in the elections. He said Bashir and the members of his National Congress in the north and Sudan People’s Liberation Movement of the south would retain their power.

He did not rule out the possibility of the election results strengthening the separatist trends in the south.

Mahjoub Al-Saif, a Sudanese working at a PR company,  said he did not care about the elections in his country because he felt that political parties and politicians lacked credibility.

Siralkhatam Shaaban, who works at an electrical engineering company, said Bashir’s victory in the elections would end many problems faced by the country, such as the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant against him.

“Sudan has achieved considerable economic growth, particularly in agriculture, under President Bashir’s leadership,” he said.