Atta el-Battahani is Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Khartoum and Senior Adviser to the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA) in Sudan. He received his PhD from Sussex University, UK. His research covers the Nuba Mountains and western Sudan. Among his numerous publications is Nationalism and Peasant Politics in the Nuba Mountain Region of Sudan (Arabic 2002, English 2009). He is co-author, with Justin Willis and Peter Woodward, of the RVI report ‘Elections in Sudan: Learning from Experience’ (2010).