election day(s)

poster of omar al-bashir not far from neelain university. it's been up ever since i arrived in november.

so, it's election day in sudan.

the streets were nearly empty this morning. shops were closed, their metal doors firmly pulled shut. jackson station, the sweaty, frenetic knot of people i squeeze through must every day was clam.

it's the first time in more than 20 years that sudan has held elections. balloting will last three days -- today, tomorrow and the day after. and three days after that, the results should be ready.

the elections have always felt like sort of a landmark for my time here. even before i came, election day seemed like it would be some sort of a turning point. one of those events that split an experience into everything that came before and everything that came after.

now it seems so much less momentous. the opposition parties have all withdrawn from the presidential election. that means the current president omar al-bashir is the only choice. there's no doubt he'll win.

so that leaves one question. what happens after the votes are cast and counted?

i guess we're about to get an answer.