Fighting their first election, the Liberal Democrats did much to give themselves a politically vital unique selling point apart from the issue of proportional representation - a marginal concern to most voters.

BBC: NEWS | VOTE2001 | THE ELECTION BATTLES 1945-1997

But the other Sudanese, especially in the battered west and marginal east, will once again find themselves woefully lacking in true representation.

ECONOMIST: Sudan's coming elections: How did it come to this? | The