Sudan 1998
The drafting and adoption of Sudan’s 1992 constitution occurred amidst a civil war that still continues today. A military coup in June 1989 brought to power a 15-member Revolutionary Council and banned political parties. This military government initiated the drafting of a new constitution in August 1997. It appointed two committees: one, a review committee, was charged with reviewing the suspended constitution and recommending reforms; the second, a technical committee, was established to draft a new constitution. In October 1997, the government created the National Constitutional Committee, which replaced the two other constitutional committees. It gave the 400 appointed members of this committee the tasks of reviewing the technical committee’s work and submitting a draft constitution on behalf of the government to the National Assembly, the legislative branch of the government. The National Assembly would then vote on a final version of the constitution before putting it to the electorate for a referendum. Very few of the 71 Southern delegates appointed to this committee participated. The committee never obtained a quorum and eventually submitted merely a suggested draft to the president. The president then altered the suggested draft before sending it on to the National Assembly for debate. The alterations included a reduction in the proposed articles from 206 to 145 and making the draft’s reference to political organizations more ambiguous.
In March 1998, members of the National Assembly met in an extraordinary session to debate the revised draft. On March 28, 1998, after more than three weeks of debate, the National Assembly voted on the draft. The deputies unanimously approved each of the 140 articles except an ambiguously-worded one providing for political association. This article was endorsed with 261 votes in favor, 26 against, and 11 abstentions. Opposition groups criticized the draft for not re-instating a multi-party system and for basing the legal system on Shari’a (Islamic) law. Those favoring an Islamic state claimed that the constitution did not go far enough in instituting Islamic law. Opposition groups also cited the lack of opportunities for public participation as a major flaw of the drafting process.
The constitution was then put to a nationwide referendum in May 1998. Opposition groups from both the North and South called for a boycott of the referendum. Sudanese citizens living a broad were allowed to vote in the referendum. It was approved, according to the election commission, by 96.7% of voters. The commission also reported that 91.9% of eligible voters voted. These figures were not corroborated by any external observer and nor much of what had been noted at polling stations. The president signed the constitution on June 30, 1998, the ninth anniversary of the military coup. It entered into effect that same day.
Result: A power struggle between the president, Omar al-Bashir, and the powerful speaker of parliament, Hassan al-Turabi, in December 1999 led to al-Turabi being stripped of his power and arrested. Al-Bashir suspended the constitution and declared a state of national emergency.