King Salman congratulates Sudan’s Bashir on winning elections

Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdul-Aziz called to congratulate Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir on securing yet another term as head of state in the country’s most recent presidential elections.

King Salman and Bashir also discussed their country’s bilateral relations in addition to the situation in the regional and international arena, the Saudi Press Agency reported.

Bashir won re-election with 94 percent of the vote, according to official results announced on Monday.

The head of the Election Commission, Mokhtar al-Assam, announced the results to reporters. He said turnout was 46.4 percent, insisting that widespread reports of low participation were “not accurate.”

He said Bashir won 5.58 million votes. The other 14 presidential candidates were virtually unknown to the public.

The four-day vote began April 13. Nearly 13 million people were registered to vote at some 11,000 polling centers. Polling stations in the capital, Khartoum, were largely deserted.

Al-Assam said turnout was lowest in Khartoum, at 34.48 percent, while Kasala state in eastern Sudan led with 66.1 percent turnout.