The first democratic poll in more than 20 years is to be held after a 2005 peace deal that ended a north-south civil war.

A U.N. panel of experts has suggested that Sudan delay elections due for July 2009 by at least four months because of expected heavy rains and logistical problems, a senior U.N. official said on Friday.

The first democratic poll in more than 20 years is to be held after a 2005 peace deal that ended a north-south civil war in Africa’s biggest country.

But a U.N. panel told the government of semi-autonomous south Sudan it might be better to push the election to the end of the year, or even into 2010, the U.N. regional coordinator for southern Sudan, David Gressly, told reporters.

Any delay could face opposition from southerners worried that they may also have to wait longer for a referendum on southern secession, promised in 2011 under the same north-south peace deal.

But Gressly said it would be impossible to run an election during south Sudan’s long rainy season which usually starts around June.

He added it would be problematic to get a poll going before the next rainy season, given delays in setting up key electoral legislation and bodies like the recently created electoral commission.

“We have provided our own guidance, proposing using the coming dry season (November to May) more for a registration process, and then the following one for elections and the following one after that for the referendum,” Gressly said.

He said the guidance, prepared at the request of south Sudan’s semi-autonomous government, did not amount to an official recommendation to change the election date.

He added that organisers also needed to factor in enough time to prepare voters for the complex elections that will involve up to 12 separate voting papers, covering ballots for everyone from the country’s president to members of state assemblies.

Both northern and southern leaders have so far publicly stressed the poll will take place before the July 2009 deadline.

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