Presidential and parliamentary elections are currently taking place to elect the President of Sudan and members of the National Assembly. The last time elections were held in Sudan was 24 years ago. How does it feel to vote after so many years? “I have never voted in my life…,” says Salva Mayardit, the leader of SPLM (Sudan People's Liberation Movement): On Sunday morning, Cde. Salva Kiir Mayardit, chairman of the SPLM and president of the Government of Southern Sunday, cast his vote at the Kololo polling station adjacent to the ministries in Juba West. Over 50 international and domestic media, as well as a group of election observers and voters, were on hand to greet the President. Kiir shows Chairman Kiir showing his ink-stained left index finger after casting vote in Juba today “I have never voted in my life and it is a good beginning in Sudan to conduct peaceful and fair elections,” said Kiir to the crowd. Cde. Kiir arrived at 8 am sharp but was delayed due to the polling station not being fully set up. When he finally was able to vote, the President voted in four rounds of ballots with three ballots in each round – Executive, National Legislative Assembly, Southern Sudan Legislative Assembly, and the State Assembly. SPLM Voices on the first day of voting: On the first day of polling in Sudan’s first election in 24 years, SPLM agents throughout the South have reported slow going for voters and polling officials. Lines of votes have been reported at many polling stations as they wait for the polling officials to begin the process, and materials continue to either be missing or still waiting to be delivered by local NEC officials in many states. SPLM party agents in many states have also reported damaged polling kits, posting of voter lists in Arabic when most registered in English, and missing ballot papers for many elections. Some specific reports are as follows: As 12 noon, reports indicate that polling stations are still setting up and materials are still arriving or missing, which is delaying the vote. SPLM officials observing polling stations in Juba saw no sign of polling officials this morning at Kator South (constituency no. 4), where voters were assembling at the Gyada Cooperative (Joint-Integrated Unit Barracks) with no sign of polling staff. And on the second day: As polling ends on the second day of elections, the general atmosphere seems to be calm and peaceful as voters patiently queued to cast their vote. For the less fortunate, frustration and confusion could be read on their faces as the failed to find their names on the voter registrar placed at each polling station. A disgruntled voter at a polling center in Hai Atlabara residential area said he was told to search for his name at two other centers but failed to find it. On Sunday, the first day of voting, Dr. Anne Itto, the SPLM Deputy Secretary General for the Southern Sector casted her vote late in the afternoon as she had to first wait for the polling centers to open at her home constituency of Pageri in Eastern Equatoria State. She then had to look up her name in the various registrars, an exercise that took hours. Dr. Anne Itto, deputy secretary general for the SPLM Southern Sector, shares her experience of voting for the first time in her life: “I felt terrific knowing that I have chosen the leader of my choice for the next government,” she said. She called on National Election Commission (NEC) to act quickly to resolve the problems that marred the first day of voting. While the two leaders of SPLM are sharing the joy of voting for the first time, Sudanese Thinker explains the reasons behind his decision not to vote: I won’t vote in the Sudanese elections. I won’t vote because: 1. I missed the voter registration date and hardly regretted it since I’ve never really believed in the predicted “change-bringing” effects of the expected elections. Hence, I can’t vote anyway even if I change my mind and wanted to. 2. Positive alternatives to Al-Bashir with an actual chance of winning are nil. 3. Assuming I registered, given that Al-Bashir is going to win any way, I would rather abstain from voting than vote for him. 4. Regardless of the “confidence” in the election process expressed by the US envoy to Sudan, the elections aren’t going to be fair or transparent. 5. Even if I’m wrong and the election process achieves some decent level of transparency and fairness, it still takes lots of money for parties and candidates to win, something that Al-Bashir and his NCP have a lot of, while the opposition is relatively broke, with the exception of the SPLM which is too corrupt and divided to even run itself properly anyway. 6. Quite frankly, I just don’t care about the political process anymore at the moment. It’s hopeless.