The National Umma Party (NUP) of Sadiq al-Mahdi Sunday demanded to be allocated 65 parliamentary seats in the Transitional Legislative Council (TLC).
On April 23, the NUP decided to freeze its activities in the Forces for Freedom and Change after disagreements over the structural reforms it proposes to implement in the broad coalition.
However, The party’s delegates continued to participate in the coalition meetings. "The National Umma Party submitted a proposition for the formation of the Legislative Council to the Central Council, in which it demands 65 seats out of the coalition’s share of 165 seats," an FFC leading member told the Sudan Tribune under the cover of anonymity on Sunday.
The source added that the TLC’s Committee of the ruling coalition will hold a meeting with the NUP on Tuesday, to discuss the matter. The NUP gradually isolated itself within the FFC coalition as it keeps referring to its historical legitimacy saying they had been the majority party in the country before the 1989 coup of Omer al-Bashir.
The party of Sadiq al-Mahdi also lost its allies of the Sudanese Revolutionary Front who left the FFC and formed a separate block. In line with the amended transitional constitutional document, the 300 seats of the transitional parliament will be shared between the FFC 165, SRF 75 and the remaining seats will be distributed to the groups that support the revolution but are not members of the FFC.
The Sudanese Professionals Association and the Resistance Committees had separately presented their own proposals for the TLC’s composition. The FFC leadership council is considering to establish youth parliaments for the resistance committees representatives.
The sources said that youth parliaments can express the opinions of large groups of young people, and then submit its deliberations to the transitional legislative body. "The establishment of youth parliament would lead to the consolidation of democratic work in the country," said the sources.
The Resistance Committees played a significant role in the Sudanese Revolution as they gathered youth from all the political groups.
The FFC Central Council will hold a meeting next Thursday, with the committee tasked with the formation of the Legislative Council, to make a final decision on the establishment of the transitional parliament.
