2019 Sudanese transition to democracy in the context of 2018–19 Sudanese protests

The Government of Sudan is the federal provisional government created by the Constitution of Sudan having executive, parliamentary, and the judicial branches. Previously, a president was head of state, head of government, and commander-in-chief of the Sudanese Armed Forces in a de jure multi-party system. Legislative power was officially vested in both the government and in the two houses – the National Assembly (lower) and the Council of States (upper) – of the bicameral National Legislature. The judiciary is independent and obtained by the Constitutional Court.

However, following the Second Sudanese Civil War and the ongoing genocide in Darfur, Sudan was widely recognized as a totalitarian state where all effective political power was held by President Omar al-Bashir and his National Congress Party (NCP). However, al-Bashir and the NCP were ousted in a military coup on April 11, 2019. The government of Sudan was then led by the Transitional Military Council (TMC). On 20 August 2019, the TMC dissolved, giving its authority over to the Transitional Sovereignty Council, who were planned to govern for 39 months until 2022, in the process of transitioning to democracy. However, the Sovereignty Council and the Sudanese government were dissolved in October 2021, when General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan seized power in a coup d'état, dissolved the Sovereignty Council, and reconstituted it the following month with new membership, keeping himself as chairman.

The Sudanese revolution (Arabic: الثورة السودانية, romanized: al-Thawrah al-Sūdānīyah) was a major shift of political power in Sudan that started with street protests throughout Sudan on 19 December 2018 and continued with sustained civil disobedience for about eight months, during which the 2019 Sudanese coup d'état deposed President Omar al-Bashir on 11 April after thirty years in power. On 3 June, the Khartoum massacre took place under the leadership of the Transitional Military Council (TMC) that replaced al-Bashir, and in July and August 2019 the TMC and the Forces of Freedom and Change alliance (FFC) signed a Political Agreement and a Draft Constitutional Declaration legally defining a planned 39-month phase of transitional state institutions and procedures to return Sudan to a civilian democracy.

In August and September 2019, the TMC formally transferred executive power to a mixed military–civilian collective head of state, the Sovereignty Council of Sudan, and to a civilian prime minister, Abdalla Hamdok and a mostly civilian cabinet, while judicial power was transferred to Nemat Abdullah Khair, Sudan's first female Chief Justice. While it is mainly about this eight-month period, there are debates on the definition of the Sudanese revolution, which may also be interpreted to include the period during the prime ministership of Hamdok, who promised that the transitional period would carry out "the program" of the revolution.

Muhammad Hamdan Dagalo Musa (born c. 1973-1975), commonly known by the mononym Hemedti, is a Sudanese military officer and politician who is serving as the chairman of the presidential council of the Government of Peace and Unity since 2025. He is also the military head of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), one of the two main factions involved in the Sudanese civil war along with the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) led by Abdel Fattah al-Burhan.

A Janjaweed chief from the Rizeigat tribe in Darfur, Hemedti was one of the warlords leading the Janjaweed in the war in Darfur and is accused by several organizations to be one of the perpetrators of the Darfur genocide (2003–2005). Hemedti later joined the RSF and has served as its military head since 2013. He took part in the revolution against President Omar al-Bashir, and, following the 2019 Sudanese coup d'état, became the deputy head of the Transitional Military Council (TMC). On 21 August 2019, the TMC transferred power to the civilian–military Transitional Sovereignty Council, of which Hemedti is a member. As of 2019, Hemedti was considered one of the richest people in Sudan via his company, al-Junaid, which had a wide array of business interests including investment, mining, transport, car rental, iron and steel. On behalf of the TMC, Hemedti signed a political agreement on 17 July 2019 and the Draft Constitutional Declaration on 4 August 2019, together with Ahmed Rabee on behalf of the Forces of Freedom and Change (FFC), as major steps in the 2019 Sudanese transition to democracy. Under Article 19 of the Draft Constitutional Declaration, Hemedti and the other Sovereignty Council members would be ineligible to run in the next Sudanese general election. In September 2019, Hemedti helped negotiate a peace deal between groups in armed conflict in Port Sudan.

The Forces of Freedom and Change (FFC, also Alliance for Freedom and Change, or AFC, and Declaration of Freedom and Change, or DFC; Arabic: قوى إعلان الحرية والتغيير) is a wide political coalition of civilian and rebel coalitions of Sudanese groups, including the Sudanese Professionals Association, No to Oppression against Women Initiative, MANSAM, the Sudan Revolutionary Front, the National Consensus Forces, Sudan Call, the Unionist Gathering, and the Sudanese resistance committees, created in January 2019 during the 2018–19 Sudanese protests. The FFC drafted a "Declaration of Freedom and Change" and "Freedom and Change Charter" which called for president Omar al-Bashir to be removed from power, which occurred after several more months of protest in the April 2019 Sudanese coup d'état. The FFC continued coordinating protest actions, and in July 2019, negotiated a power-sharing plan with the Transitional Military Council (TMC) for a transition to return to democracy. The agreement was signed on 17 July 2019.

The Cabinet of Sudan usually refers to the chief executive body of the Republic of the Sudan.

The constitutional cabinet was dissolved following the 11 April 2019 Sudanese coup d'état. In August 2019, a transitional government was formed with Abdalla Hamdok as prime minister, and 20 Ministers in the transitional cabinet, during the 39-month democratic transition. Ministers of the transitional cabinet are ineligible to run in the election scheduled to follow the transition period. In October 2021, the transitional government was dissolved following the 2021 Sudanese coup d'état. A civil war broke out between rival factions within the armed forces in April 2023. Since February 2025, members of the cabinet serve as ex officio members of Sudan's Transitional Legislative Authority.

The chief justice of Sudan is the head of the Judiciary of Sudan. Under Article 29.(3) of the August 2019 Draft Constitutional Declaration, the chief justice is also the president of the Supreme Court of Sudan and is "responsible for administering the judicial authority before the Supreme Judicial Council."