The university professor Abdullah Ali Ibrahim planned to run as an independent presidential candidate. Islamist opposition leader Hassan al-Turabi announced on 2 January 2010 that his party, the Popular Congress Party, had designated its deputy leader, Abdallah Deng Nhial, as its presidential candidate.[34] One of the renowned female politicians, professor Fatima Abdel Mahmoud, was nominated by the Sudanese Socialist Democratic Union Party which she leads, as their candidate for the Presidency.