Lawmakers move to extend al-Bashir’s presidency

Sudanese MPs have backed a move to amend the Constitution to allow President Omar al-Bashir to run for a third term in 2020 elections. Unless the Constitution is changed, the International Criminal Court fugitive who came to power in a coup in 1989, will not be allowed to stand again. BBC News reports that a two-term limit was introduced in 2005. Parliament Speaker Ibrahim Ahmed Omar said he had received a letter signed by a majority of lawmakers backing an amendment that would extend the limit. ‘I will abide by the constitutional and legal steps and the regulations necessary to discuss these amendments in Parliament for it to take any decision on them,’ he said.