Results for the juts-concluded South Sudan Referendum have began trickling in with a majority of South Sudanese voting for secession, which might lead to the formation of Africa’s newest state.
A group of South Sudanese in Central Equatoria State show the separation symbol.[©Gurtong]
by Gurtong Team
( 20 January,Juba, Sri Lanka Guardian)Voters in the semi-autonomous region say the new state will free them from marginalisation from North Sudan.
In Unity State 496,891 out of the registered 501,120 in the nine counties cast their votes. Initial results indicate that 496, 813 voted for separation while only about 78 opted for unity.
With 81,732 registered voters, Guit County had the highest number of residents casting their votes, followed by Mayom County with 81,745 voters with the least being Abiemnom County with 5,920 registered voters out of which 5,863 cast their votes.
However, it was Rubkona County that registered a 100 percent voter turnout with only seven out of the registered 55,567 voters failing to cast their votes.
In Eastern Equatoria State, preliminary results from six out of the eight counties indicate that most voters opted for secession with Magwi County leading with 76,913 votes in favour of secession against 107 for unity.
In Torit County that hosts the state capital 66,436 cast their votes in favour of separation while in neighbouring Kapoeta South 44,201 voted for secession while 12 opted for unity.
It is worth noting that Torit, being the economic capital of the state, hosts a number of businesspeople from the North, hence the high figures of those opting for continued unity of the Sudan.
Similar results were obtained in Kapoeta South where 46,685 voters opted for separation while 16 voted for unity as 57,003 voters in neighbouring Ikotos County chose secession against 5 who went for unity.
By the time of going to press, results from Kapoeta East and Budi counties had not been received.
Results from the Greater Bahr el Ghazal show a similar trend with over 95 percent voting for secession in Western Bahr el Ghazal State. The results released by the State Referendum High Commission chairman Wol Madut Chan indicate that out of the 164,353 registered voters in the state , 153,839 voted for secession while 7, 237 voted for unity.
In the political hot-bed, Lakes State preliminary results indicate that 99 percent of voters took part in the referendum with 299, 041 voters out of the registered 300,444 casting their votes.
The Lakes State Referendum High Committee chairman Michael Mabor Makuei announced that over 99 percent of the voters across the eight counties of the state opted for secession with 298,216 votes cast in favour of separation while a paltry 227 voted for unity.
Rumbek Central County registered the highest number of votes cast in favour of unity at 103 follwed by Rumbek East County with 59, Cueibet County with 41, Yirol West County’ 41, Yirol East County with 8 votes and Wulu’s 3 in descending order. No voter in Rumbek North and Awerial counties voted for unity.
(Reports by Luk Riek Nyak, Peter Lokale Nakimangole, James Deng Dimo and Manyang Mayom)
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