Khartoum - He may have easily secured another five years in power on Monday, but President Omar al-Bashir still faces major challenges in solving Sudan's economic woes and ending its international isolation.
Bashir, who won more than 94 percent of the vote, is also wanted by the International Criminal Court over war crimes in the western region of Darfur, curtailing his ability to travel abroad freely.
Since seizing power in an Islamist-backed coup in 1989, his rule has seen Sudan slapped with a US trade embargo for hosting late Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in the 1990s and for rights abuses.
Bashir has tried to distance himself from radical Islamism, but he is under international pressure over conflicts in Sudan's border regions and over repression of his political opponents.
The government will now have to win over the international community with a long-promised national dialogue with the opposition and with new foreign alliances, analysts believe.
Domestically, Bashir can work to end Sudan's isolation by "stopping the war and achieving internal reconciliation", said Adel al-Baz, an economic columnist with the independent Al-Youm al-Tali newspaper.
He "cannot ignore the dialogue after the elections because it has become a regional and international demand, as well as one from all internal parties, and it is an urgent matter to resolve," Baz said.
The European Union had said the vote would not produce a "credible" result because of Bashir's failure to hold the talks aimed at resolving conflicts in South Kordofan, Blue Nile and Darfur, as well as tackling economic woes.
AFP
