* Election commission asks UN to reopen printing tender
* New bid means two-week delay to tight timetable
* Jan. 9 vote date in doubt - diplomatic source
(Adds southern registration count, background)
By Opheera McDoom
KHARTOUM, Dec 1 (Reuters) - South Sudan's independence referendum will likely be delayed after organisers asked the United Nations to reopen a tender to print ballot papers, diplomats and observers said on Wednesday.
Plans for the politically sensitive vote, scheduled for Jan. 9, were already falling behind schedule amid logistical problems and bickering between northern and southern leaders.
Southern leaders have up to now refused to accept any delay to the vote on whether they should secede or stay part of Sudan, a plebiscite promised to them in a 2005 peace deal that ended decades of north-south civil war.
Southerners are expected to choose independence and analysts have warned rows over the vote could re-ignite conflict.
The commission organising the vote on Wednesday said it had asked the United Nations to reopen a tender to print ballot papers, which closed in mid November, to allow Sudanese companies to bid, with a deadline of Dec. 5.
"The commission just requested the bidding be reopened for some time to enable Sudanese printing companies to apply if they think they can compete," said George Makuer, acting spokesman for the commission. He declined to comment on whether it would delay the vote.
POSTPONEMENT
Observers and diplomatic sources said the last-minute request would almost inevitably lead to a postponement.
"Everyone is in somewhat of a panic about this. It seems we may have lost the Jan. 9 date," said one diplomatic source.
The United Nations could not immediately comment on why it had agreed to reopen the bid. Sudanese observers said they had warned against the move but had been ignored.
"They now have to move the polling back 10 days," said Ali Mohamed, spokesman for the SuGDE observers. "Really this is a political issue."
Mohamed said northern Sudan's ruling National Congress Party (NCP) and the southern ruling Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) would need to make a decision on the date.
A senior official in the referendum commission told Reuters it had taken five weeks to print the registration materials and the United Nations said it needed up to three weeks to distribute voting materials to the south, which has little infrastructure.
The SPLM has accused the north of trying to delay the vote to keep control of the region's oil, a charge dismissed by the NCP which is campaigning for southerners to choose unity.
Southern officials had said they wanted the voting and registration materials printed in a neutral location outside Sudan to avoid any possibility of manipulation.
Sudan's government printing press was at the centre of a row during April elections which sparked a boycott by many opposition parties. It won tenders to print ballot papers and registration materials despite not being the cheapest option. The opposition said that opened the door to fraud by the ruling party.
More than 2.1 million people had registered to vote in the south up to Monday, 56 per cent of eligible voters in the region, the commission said. Registration closes next week. (Additional reporting by Jeremy Clarke in Juba; Editing by Andrew Heavens and Janet Lawrence)
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