Sudan: Hamdok receives Forces of Freedom and Change’s list of government candidates

Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok on Monday received the list of nominations that contained 17 candidates from the Forces of Freedom and Change alliance (FFC), member of the ruling coalition, for the new government set to be formed this week.

This came during a meeting between Hamdok and a delegation of the FFC nominations committee, reported the official Sudan News Agency (SUNA).

Member of the FFC nomination committee, Ibrahim Al-Sheikh, said: “The committee made great efforts that were crowned with completing a list of the 17 ministries the alliance is concerned with, and handed it over to the Prime Minister.”

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Al-Sheikh added, according to the same source: “These nominations were subject to precise criteria examination related to adequate political awareness about the challenges facing the country, in addition to academic qualification and experience.”

“These nominations expressed the diversity and plurality of Sudan.”

Al-Sheikh indicated that the Revolutionary Front, which includes several armed movements, is expected to hand over its nominations today in relation to the seven ministries they hold.

According to the constitutional document, candidates for the defence and interior portfolios are nominated by the military council.

Hamdok had recently stated that the new cabinet will include 25 or 26 ministries (instead of 21), confirming that the upcoming government will be more effective.

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The government reshuffle comes in accordance with a peace agreement signed months ago with the armed movements that paved the way for establishing the transitional councils.

On  3 November, the Sovereignty Council and the Council of Ministers in Sudan amended the constitutional document, under which the current transitional government was formed on 5 September 2019.

The constitutional document is the first sovereign text to be drafted since the army leadership ousted Omar Al-Bashir on 11 April 2019 under the weight of popular protests.