At a press conference held in Khartoum today, the National Elections Commission (NEC) disclosed that incumbent candidate Ahmed Haroun won the governorship with 201,455 votes in the state's poll held between 2 and 4 May.

Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) gubernatorial contender Abdel-Aziz Al-Hilu garnered 194,955 votes, while independent candidate Telefon Kuku – who had been campaigning while being detained for over a year – received 9,130 votes.

"These supplementary elections for Southern Kordofan to elect governor and Legislative Assembly represent the final stage of the electoral process, which was stipulated in the CPA (Comprehensive Peace Agreement)," said NEC Deputy Chairman Abdallah Ahmed Abdallah in his address to the media.

Mr. Abdallah added that the NEC had been in consultation with political parties during all phases of the elections, and that "none of the domestic or international observers or participating parties ... had questioned the integrity of these elections".

According to local news reports, both parties earlier had raised concerns about the transparency of the election process.

The NEC deputy chairman called on the parties and their supporters "to accept the results calmly because in any democratic elections there is a winner and a loser".

Taking the floor at the press conference, NEC Commissioner Mukhtar Alassam listed results for each of the state's 32 constituencies. Aggregated results showed that the NCP gained 22 seats in the State Legislative Assembly (SLA), while the SPLM garnered 10.

The state-level elections were initially scheduled to be held concurrently with presidential and National Assembly elections of last April. However, following disputes over the 2008 census results for Southern Kordofan, the NEC postponed gubernatorial and SLA elections in the state, holding only presidential and National Assembly elections over a year ago.