Candidacy for Sudanese general elections to open January 11

Sudan's National Elections Commission (NEC) on Saturday invited the political parties and individuals desirous to stand for the April 2015 presidential and parliamentary polls to present their papers as of January 11.
The NEC will be receiving the bids of parliamentary and presidential hopefuls between January 11 and 19, chairman of the commission Mukhtar Al-Asam told reporters here.
"A qualified presidential hopeful needs to meet the specified requirements foremost among which is winning the support of 15,000 registered voters from 12 of the country's 18 states, provided that the grassroots in any of these states are no less than 200 voters," he said.
"A presidential hopeful needs also to deposit 10,000 Sudanese pounds (some USD 1,200) as bank guarantee which will be repaid if they win at least 10 percent of votes or if the candidate withdraws candidacy 45 days ahead of the polls," Al-Asam added.
President Omar Hassan Al-Bashir has announced plan to run for the office while most major political parties announced that they will boycott the elections.
The boycotters argue that the elections must be run by a national unity government in the light of the outcome of the ongoing national comprehensive dialogue initiated by President Al-Bashir in early 2014.