The following was supplied by Wilf Day:

Among new fields where MMP might sprout, is Sudan one?

“The draft envisages 60 percent of seats elected by geographical constituencies and 40 percent by proportional representation . . . Smaller political parties want a larger percentage of proportional representation seats because that will favour them.”

General elections are scheduled to take place by July 2009 concurrently on six levels: for the presidencies of the Government of National Unity (GNU) and the Government of Southern Sudan (GOSS); for the National Assembly and the South Sudan Legislative Assembly; and for the governorships and state legislatures in all 25 states. But July is the rainy season. Elections in February would allow a potential runoff election before the beginning of the rainy season in April. Six months before the targeted election date, parties must meet to review the feasibility of holding elections: that’s August.

Sudan has two main parties, but the Government of National Unity is composed of 14 parties and political Organizations, and the National Interim Assembly is composed of 450 seats representing 17 parties and political organizations (20% from the smaller parties).

The article that Wilf linked to also notes that “The [electoral] law is one of many which must be changed to adhere to a new democratic constitution drafted after a 2005 north-south peace deal which ended Africa’s longest civil war.”

It is less obvious to me, from the information Wilf provides, that the proposal is for MMP rather than MMM.

Lest one be too confident in this all turning out well, the article also notes:

This week the southern parliament approved the first steps towards establishing an air force for the separate southern army. The northern army on Thursday expressed concern at the move saying it could cause problems.

“There’s nothing in the deal saying they have the right to create an air force,” the northern army spokesman said.

That seems less than promising.

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And, yes, I am aware that not all of Sudan is “Sub-Saharan.” However, the regional classifications adopted here at F&V sort of leave Sudan unclassified. North Africa goes under “Euro-Mediterranean.” But Sudan is certainly more Sub-Saharan than Mediterranean. I suppose I will really have a classificatory challenge some day if I have anything to say about elections in Western Sahara.