**Polling in Sudan’s landmark elections has officially ended after five days.**The elections are the first multi-party polls in the country since 1984 and are part of a north-south peace deal which ended two decades of war in 2005.
But the presidential, parliamentary and local polls have also been marred by voting irregularities and alleged rigging.
They are widely expected to keep President Omar al-Bashir in power for another five years.
Mr Bashir, who is wanted by the UN for war crimes in Sudan’s western Darfur region, has asked rival parties to join his government if he wins.
Many of Sudan’s opposition parties boycotted all or part of the poll, alleging fraud by Mr Bashir’s party.
As the last votes were cast, presidential aide Nafie Ali Nafie said the opposition might seek regime change:
“They are not going to recognise the outcome of the elections and they are going to go to the streets and try to change the regime… through conflicts, riots. We know it.”
The country’s ruling party said on Thursday that soldiers from the semi-autonomous south had killed at least five of its supporters in the first reported incident of deadly violence during polling.
The authorities are keen to highlight there has not been a major security incident in Darfur during the elections.
But areas controlled by rebels did not vote, and hundreds of thousands of internally displaced people did not register.
Just as President Bashir is certain to win the presidential vote, the former southern rebels - the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) are likely to dominate the polls in the south.
But correspondents say the key issue is now whether the international community will endorse the elections as free and fair.
Polling began on Sunday and was due to last three days, but was later extended.This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.