150 thE sudan handbookMulti-party Democracy, 1953–1958The shortcomings of the system were apparent even before indepen-
dence. They intensified thereafter. From a constitutional perspective
the interim arrangements were for a unitary state under a government
chosen overwhelmingly on a constituency basis by first-past-the-post
elections. Such a system was simple to understand and to operate, and
reflected the style of one of the co-domini, Britain (the system being
often referred to as a ‘Westminster’ constitution after the location of
Britain’s houses of parliament). Under its autocratic imperial rulers
Sudan had always been formally a unitary state, though its administra-
tion had had a significant level of deconcentration, with the governors
of provinces having a considerable degree of autonomy in day-to-day
matters. With the coming of self-government and then independence
the newly elected Sudanese government, presiding over a governmental
machinery which had expanded rapidly since the early 1940s, sought to
increase this central control.
British governors in the three southern provinces had predicted this
turn of events in the lead up to self-government and had called for
some form of special constitutional status for the region. Their calls
had fallen on deaf ears. Even before independence there were growing
signs of regional discontent which culminated in a mutiny of southern
units of Sudan Defence Force in Torit in August 1955. The government
indicated that if the southern MPs supported independence under the
unitary constitution, a federal constitution would be considered down
the line – but successive multi-party governments failed to deliver on
this undertaking.
A Constitution is only one aspect of a political system. Party structures
and political leadership are other significant aspects. Sudan has some
relatively long-established political parties. The longest-established of
these, one of the two parties which have dominated the politics of the
multi-party periods, is the Umma Party, which was formed in 1945. The
organization of the Umma Party has focused on the Mahdi family, the
descendants of the nineteenth-century leader of Islamic revivalism,
The Sudan Handbook, edited by John Ryle, Justin Willis, Suliman Baldo and Jok Madut Jok. © 2011 Rift Valley Institute and contributors
(www.riftvalley.net).