Sudan voting ends amid reports of low turnout

Polling stations have closed across most of Sudan after nationwide elections were extended by one day.

The elections for the presidency and state and national parliaments started on Monday and were due to last for three days, but were extended until 7pm on Thursday by the electoral commission amid reports of a poor turnout.

President Omar Bashir, 71, who is indicted by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes, was virtually unopposed in the race, facing 13 little known challengers and an opposition boycott. He is widely expected to win.

Two presidential candidates withdrew after the voting extension was announced, pointing to "irregularities" in the electoral process.

The African Union's election observer mission said that it had seen "a generally low turnout of voters throughout" four days of voting.

The head of the delegation, the former Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo, said turnout was between 30 and 35 percent, and generally did not reach 40 percent.

The head of the polling station at Rafeed primary school in Khartoum, Awdiyya Mohammadn Abdullah, told al-Araby al-Jadeed: "The number of voters registered at this polling station was 2,682 but only about 400 of them voted."

Voting was disrupted in parts of the country by administrative errors and attacks by rebels in South Kordofan and Darfur.

Armed men attacked two polling stations in the Northern Darfur region, and took a number of ballot boxes.

The electoral commission defended its decision to extend voting for a fourth day and the commission's spokesperson, Al-Hadi Mohammad Ahmed, announced that votes will start being counted early Friday morning.

Results are expected later this month.