The National Congress Party (NCP; , ') was a major

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

of ousted President

Omar Al-Bashir Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir (born 1 January 1944) is a Sudanese former military officer and politician who served as Head of state of Sudan, Sudan's head of state under various titles from 1989 until 2019, when he was deposed in 2019 Sudanese c ...

, it dominated domestic politics in Sudan from its foundation until it was dissolved following the

Sudanese Revolution The Sudanese revolution () was a major shift of political power in Sudan that started with street protests throughout Sudan on 19 December 2018 and continued with sustained civil disobedience for about eight months, during which the 2019 S ...

. After the split of the National Islamic Front (NIF), the party was divided into two parties. The Islamic Movement led by its secretary Hassan al-Turabi and the military commanded by

Omar al-Bashir Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir (born 1 January 1944) is a Sudanese former military officer and politician who served as Head of state of Sudan, Sudan's head of state under various titles from 1989 until 2019, when he was deposed in 2019 Sudanese c ...

launched a military coup against Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi and President Ahmed al-Mirghani in 1989. Omar al-Bashir, who also became president of the National Congress Party and Sudan, seized power and began institutionalising

Sharia Sharia, Sharī'ah, Shari'a, or Shariah () is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition based on Islamic holy books, scriptures of Islam, particularly the Quran, Qur'an and hadith. In Islamic terminology ''sharīʿah'' ...

at a national level. After a military coup in 1969, Sudanese President

Gaafar Nimeiry Gaafar Muhammad an-Nimeiry (otherwise spelled in English as Gaafar Nimeiry, Jaafar Nimeiry, or Ja'far Muhammad Numayri; ; 1 January 193030 May 2009) was a Sudanese military officer and politician who served as the fourth president of Sudan, hea ...

abolished all other political parties, effectively dissolving the Islamic parties. Following political transition in 1985, Turabi reorganised the former party into the National Islamic Front (NIF), which pushed for an Islamist constitution. The NIF ultimately backed another military coup bringing to power

, who publicly endorsed the NIF's Islamist agenda. The party structure was composed at the national level of the General Conference, the Shura Council and the Leadership Council, and the Executive Office. The NCP was established in 1998 by key political figures in the National Islamic Front (NIF) as well as other politicians. The rule of the NCP was the longest in independent contemporary Sudanese history. It grew out of the Islamist student activism of the

Muslim Brotherhood The Society of the Muslim Brothers ('' ''), better known as the Muslim Brotherhood ( ', is a transnational Sunni Islamist organization founded in Egypt by Islamic scholar, Imam and schoolteacher Hassan al-Banna in 1928. Al-Banna's teachings s ...

, passing through the same revolutionary

salafi jihadism Salafi jihadism, also known as Salafi-jihadism, jihadist Salafism and revolutionary Salafism, is a religiopolitical Sunni Islam, Sunni Islamist ideology that seeks to establish a global caliphate through armed struggle. In a narrower sense, ji ...

. The party followed the ideologies of

Islamism Islamism is a range of religious and political ideological movements that believe that Islam should influence political systems. Its proponents believe Islam is innately political, and that Islam as a political system is superior to communism ...

Pan-Arabism Pan-Arabism () is a Pan-nationalism, pan-nationalist ideology that espouses the unification of all Arabs, Arab people in a single Nation state, nation-state, consisting of all Arab countries of West Asia and North Africa from the Atlantic O ...

, and

Arab nationalism Arab nationalism () is a political ideology asserting that Arabs constitute a single nation. As a traditional nationalist ideology, it promotes Arab culture and civilization, celebrates Arab history, the Arabic language and Arabic literatur ...

. The NCP was banned by the Sovereignty Council of Sudan in the aftermath of the military takeover on 29 November 2019. All party properties were confiscated and all party members were barred from participating in elections or holding office for ten years.

Formation of the party

With Omar al-Bashir becoming President of Sudan, the National Congress Party was established as the only legally recognised political party in the nation in 1998, with the very same ideology as its predecessors National Islamic Front (NIF) and the Revolutionary Command Council for National Salvation, which al-Bashir headed as Chairman until 1993. As the sole political party in the state, its members quickly came to dominate the entire Sudanese parliament. However, after Hassan al-Turabi, the speaker of parliament, introduced a bill to reduce the president's powers, prompting al-Bashir to dissolve parliament and declare a

state of emergency A state of emergency is a situation in which a government is empowered to put through policies that it would normally not be permitted to do, for the safety and protection of its citizens. A government can declare such a state before, during, o ...

, a split began to form inside the organisation. Reportedly, al-Turabi was suspended as

Chairman The chair, also chairman, chairwoman, or chairperson, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the gro ...

of National Congress Party after he urged a boycott of the President's re-election campaign. Then, a splinter-faction led by al-Turabi, the Popular National Congress Party (PNC) which was renamed the Popular Congress Party (PCP) shortly afterwards, signed an agreement with

Sudan People's Liberation Army The South Sudan People's Defence Forces (SSPDF), formerly the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), is the military force of South Sudan. The SPLA was founded as a guerrilla movement against the government of Sudan in 1983 and was a key parti ...

(SPLA), one of the largest rebel groups in the country, which led al-Bashir to believe that they were plotting to overthrow him and the government. Al-Turabi was subsequently imprisoned in 2000 on allegations of

conspiracy A conspiracy, also known as a plot, ploy, or scheme, is a secret plan or agreement between people (called conspirers or conspirators) for an unlawful or harmful purpose, such as murder, treason, or corruption, especially with a political motivat ...

before being released in October 2003.Wasil Ali,
Sudanese Islamist opposition leader denies link with Darfur rebels
", ''Sudan Tribune'', 13 May 2008.

Approving South Sudanese autonomy

In 2000, following the Sudanese government approving democratic elections that were boycotted by the opposition, it merged with the ''Alliance of Working Peoples' Forces'' Party of former President

. This merger later disintegrated with the launch of the Sudanese Socialist Union Party. The utility of the elections was questioned due to their boycotting by the

Democratic Unionist Party The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) is a Unionism in Ireland, unionist, Ulster loyalism, loyalist, British nationalist and national conservative political party in Northern Ireland. It was founded in 1971 during the Troubles by Ian Paisley, who ...

(DUP) and the Umma Party. At those

legislative A legislature (, ) is a deliberative assembly with the legal authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country, nation or city on behalf of the people therein. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial powers ...

elections An election is a formal group decision-making process whereby a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operated ...

, in December 2000, the party won 355 out of 360 seats. At the presidential elections of the same year, its candidate

was re-elected with 86.5% of the popular vote. National Congress Party members continued to dominate the ''Lawyers' Union'' and heads of most of Sudan's agricultural and university student unions. Following the

Comprehensive Peace Agreement The Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA, ), also known as the Naivasha Agreement, was an accord signed on 9 January 2005, by the Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) and the Government of Sudan. The CPA was meant to end the Second Sudane ...

with the

SPLM The Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM; , ''Al-Ḥarakat ash-Shaʿbiyyat liTaḥrīr as-Sūdān'') is a political party in South Sudan. It was initially founded as the political wing of the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA; a key bell ...

in 2005, the NCP-dominated government of Sudan allowed Southern Sudan autonomy for six years, to be followed by a referendum on independence in 2011, thus ending the

Second Sudanese Civil War The Second Sudanese Civil War was a conflict from 1983 to 2005 between the central Sudanese government and the Sudan People's Liberation Army/Movement, Sudan People's Liberation Army. It was largely a continuation of the First Sudanese Civil Wa ...

South Sudan South Sudan (), officially the Republic of South Sudan, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered on the north by Sudan; on the east by Ethiopia; on the south by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda and Kenya; and on the ...

voted in favour of secession.

War in Darfur

Since the outbreak of the

War in Darfur The War in Darfur, also nicknamed the Land Cruiser War, was a major armed conflict in the Darfur region of Sudan that began in February 2003 when the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army, Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) and the Justice and Equalit ...

in 2004 between the government of Omar al-Bashir and rebel groups such as the Sudanese Liberation Army (SLA) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), the NCP has been almost universally criticised for allegedly, however not officially, supporting Arab militias such as the

Janjaweed The Janjaweed () are an Sudanese Arabs, Arab nomad militia group operating in the Sahel, Sahel region, specifically in Sudan, particularly in Darfur and eastern Chad. They have also been speculated to be active in Yemen. According to the United ...

through a campaign of

murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse committed with the necessary Intention (criminal law), intention as defined by the law in a specific jurisd ...

rape Rape is a type of sexual assault involving sexual intercourse, or other forms of sexual penetration, carried out against a person without consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or against a person ...

and

deportation Deportation is the expulsion of a person or group of people by a state from its sovereign territory. The actual definition changes depending on the place and context, and it also changes over time. A person who has been deported or is under sen ...

against the militants as well as the local population. Because of the

guerrilla warfare Guerrilla warfare is a form of unconventional warfare in which small groups of irregular military, such as rebels, partisans, paramilitary personnel or armed civilians, which may include recruited children, use ambushes, sabotage, terrori ...

in the Darfur region, between 200,000 and 400,000 people have been killed, while over 2.5 million people have been displaced and the diplomatic relations between Sudan and

Chad Chad, officially the Republic of Chad, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of North Africa, North and Central Africa. It is bordered by Libya to Chad–Libya border, the north, Sudan to Chad–Sudan border, the east, the Central Afric ...

has never been worse. This has led to the

International Criminal Court The International Criminal Court (ICC) is an intergovernmental organization and International court, international tribunal seated in The Hague, Netherlands. It is the first and only permanent international court with jurisdiction to prosecute ...

(ICC) indicting State Minister for Humanitarian Affairs Ahmed Haroun and alleged Muslim Janjawid militia leader Ali Mohammed Ali, also known as Ali Kushayb, in relation to the atrocities in the region. On 14 July 2008, ten criminal charges were announced against President Omar al-Bashir, and subsequently. a warrant for his arrest was issued.International Criminal Court (4 March 2009). . Retrieved on 4 March 2009BBC News, 4 March 2009.
Warrant issued for Sudan's Bashir
'. Retrieved on 4 March 2009 , al-Bashir, Haroun and Abdel Rahim Mohammed Hussein, also a member of the National Congress and indicted by the ICC, were held under detention by Sudanese authorities while the Transitional Military Council held power. Kushayb and Abdallah Banda, also indicted by the ICC, remained fugitives .

2010 election

Despite his international arrest warrant, President

remained the leader of the NCP and its candidate in the 2010 Sudanese presidential election, the first election with multiple political parties participating in ten years. His political rival was

Vice-President A vice president or vice-president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vi ...

Salva Kiir Mayardit Salva Kiir Mayardit (born 13 September 1951), commonly known as Salva Kiir, is a South Sudanese politician who is the President of South Sudan since its independence on 9 July 2011. Prior to independence, he was the List of heads of state of So ...

, who was also a leader of the

and subsequently became President of South Sudan.

Electoral history

Presidential elections

National Assembly elections

References

External links

Official National Congress Party Website
Trial Watch

the Hague Justice Portal
Sudanese President Threaten Wars
" ''Sudan Inside'', 18 November 2007. * by Michael Johns, Heritage Foundation Executive Memorandum #245, 28 July 1989.

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20091108135324/http://www.electionnaire.org/ Sudan Electionnaire {{Islamism 1992 establishments in Sudan 2019 disestablishments in Sudan Anti-Israeli sentiment in Africa Anti-Zionism in Africa Anti-Zionist political parties Arab nationalism in Sudan Arab nationalist political parties Banned Islamist parties Conservative parties in Sudan Defunct conservative parties Defunct political parties in Sudan Islamic political parties in Sudan Parties of one-party systems Political parties affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood Political parties disestablished in 2019 Political parties established in 1992 Sufi organizations Sunni Islamic political parties