Between Coups and Election: Constitutional Engineering and Military Entrenchment in Sudan

Abstract

This article investigates how armies re-entrench their power after thwarting democratic transitions. After the Sudanese military staged a coup in October 2021 and altered the transitional constitution, coup leader Abdelfattah al-Burhan announced the military's withdrawal in July 2022 after. We argue that these constitutional changes leveraged existing institutions in the military's favour to retain its influence over Sudanese governance. Using empirical evidence from Sudan's previous military takeovers to evaluate the post-coup constitutional engineering, the analysis finds that military control over the electoral commission as well as decentralisation will be determining factors moving forward. The timeframe between an anti-democratic coup and subsequent elections should be examined more carefully. Entrenching military power through elections requires a policy set up in advance, usually undertaken in this period. Thus, we provide key insights into how armies incrementally consolidate their power without radically overhauling existing institutions.