One of Sudan's key opposition¹ parties has said that it plans to boycott² the country's elections.

苏丹一个主要反对党乌玛党称其将拒绝参加国家选举。

Opposition parties warn that the poll is unlikely to be either free or fair

A spokesman said the Umma party would not take part in the presidential, parliamentary or state polls.

Sudan's first multi-party elections since 1986 are scheduled to begin on Sunday.

The Umma party's decision follows that of the main southern Sudan party, the SPLM, to boycott the vote in the northern areas.

"We have decided³ to boycott（联合抵制，拒绝参加） the electoral process at all levels," said Sarah Nugdalla, head of Umma's political bureau.

Umma was among a group of opposition parties that had given the Sudanese government a deadline to introduce reforms in return for（作为……的报答） a pledge to take part in the elections - as long as these were delayed until May.

No strong challenger

The party had won the previous legislative⁴ elections in 1986, only to be later removed from power by current President Omar al-Bashir.

Our correspondent in Khartoum, James Copnall, says the withdrawal⁵ of the party from the elections will further damage to the credibility of the democratic process.

Other smaller parties announced a full boycott of the election last week.

Umma - one of Sudan's oldest's parties - took the decision to protest at what it believes will be rigged（作弊的，非法操纵的） polls that the president will be sure to win.

Also on Wednesday, the European Union announced that it was pulling its election observers out of the Darfur region over security fears.

"In some parts of Darfur the violence is terrible. The humanitarians⁶ cannot access this area. And if aid cannot access, we cannot access," said Veronique De Keyser, who heads the EU's election mission in the country.

She added that she feared the team would only be able to see a small portion of the voting, and could miss irregularities（谬误，不规则） .

The president had hoped to win the polls to defy（蔑视，挑衅） an International Criminal Court warrant over alleged⁷ war crimes in the Darfur region.

With no strong challenger, Mr Bashir, who seized power in a bloodless coup⁸（政变，妙计） in 1989, looks set for a comfortable win, say analysts⁹.

Some 1.5 million people died in the conflict between the mainly Muslim north and the south, where most people are Christian¹⁰ or follow traditional beliefs.