abstract:Sadiq al-Mahdi () (also known as Sadiq Al Siddiq, born December 25, 1935) is a Sudanese political and religious figure who was Prime Minister of Sudan from 1966 to 1967 and again from 1986 to 1989. He is head of the National Umma Party and Imam of the Ansar, a sufi sect that pledges allegiance to Muhammad Ahmad, who claimed to be Islam's messianic saviour, or the Mahdi.
Both of President Bashir's main rivals, Sadiq al-Mahdi of Umma and Yassir Arman of the former southern rebels, the SPLM, are boycotting the presidential election.
The removal of Mr Turabi has cleared the way for the government to make its peace with two exiled northern politicians, Sadiq al-Mahdi, leader of the Umma Party, and Muhammad Osman Mirghani, leader of the Democratic Unionist Party.