§ 10. Mr. Mott-Radclyffeasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he has any statement to make regarding the official announcement by the Sudan Electoral Commission that elections cannot be held before the second-half of October in all parts of the Sudan.
§ Mr. Selwyn LloydHer Majesty's Government have noted the Sudan Electoral Commission's announcement with keen 857 disappointment. The Commission has come to the conclusion that the electoral rules need further consideration in the light of views expressed to it by Sudanese, and this cannot be finished in time to allow the necessary preparations for the elections to be made before the rains make voting impossible in certain districts.
§ Mr. Mott-RadclyffeWould my right hon. and learned Friend make it widely clear throughout the Middle East and elsewhere that no blame for the delay in the elections could conceivably fall on Her Majesty's Government but that the blame, if anywhere, attaches to the Egyptians?
§ Mr. LloydHer Majesty's Government have pressed throughout for the early holding of these elections. That view has been publicly shared by the Umma and Socialist Republican parties, which are the two parties seeking Sudanese independence.