THIRTEEN years after emerging as the world’s newest state, South Sudan is still struggling to hold its first elections.
The country’s inaugural national vote, which was scheduled for this December, has now been pushed to December 2026, and the period of the Transitional Government extended accordingly.
The Presidential Adviser on National Security, Tut Gatluak, said on Friday the extension ‘is an opportunity to implement the critical remaining protocols’ in the Revitalised Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in The Republic of South Sudan (R-ARCSS).
These include the permanent constitution process, census and the registration of political parties.
The Minister of Cabinet Affairs, Dr Martin Elia Lomuro, said that postponing the elections was ‘in response to the recommendations from both electoral institutions and the security sector’.
He said there were ‘pending critical tasks necessary for the successful conduct of the elections’.
‘There is a need for additional time to complete essential tasks before the polls,’ Lomuro said.
He stressed that the Transitional Government ‘will not be dissolved and will continue to function as usual while the institutions work to finalise their provisions’.
Lomuro added: ‘The remaining months of the current transitional period will be utilised to mobilise funds aimed at the effective implementation of the revitalised peace agreement.
‘This initiative is crucial for achieving long-term peace and stability in the country.’
Since its independence in 2011, South Sudan has experienced two bitter civil conflicts.
With the support of the international community, those conflicts were halted first through a Cessation of Hostilities Agreement in 2017, followed by the 2018 R-ARCSS.
The R-ACSS has provided the existing framework for peace that has sustained and provided for the current structure of governance.
The Agreement and associated road map contemplated that the transition period would be brought to an end in February 2025 after ‘free, fair and peaceful elections’ this December.
With the Friday announcement by the South Sudanese government, the exercise has been extended by another two years.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, however, expressed doubt earlier this year about the feasibility of holding the elections in December.
In a letter in April, he enumerated over a dozen critical preconditions necessary to hold genuine and peaceful elections that the South Sudan transitional government had yet to meet.
Despite significant international support, the letter said that that President Salva Kiir, First Vice President Riek Machar and other South Sudanese political leaders had thus far ‘collectively failed to meet the standards necessary for genuine and peaceful elections to take place in December’.
The letter added: ‘In light of the above, it is my view that the parties must commit to take urgent steps to achieve a “critical mass” of implementation necessary for a peaceful conduct of free, fair and credible elections.
‘The peaceful conduct of credible elections and the implementation of the results is a shared strategic goal of South Sudanese stakeholders and their international partners.
‘While I note and welcome the inter-party dialogue currently under way to discuss the elections, I urge the leaders of South Sudan to display political will, build mutual trust, make the political decisions needed and allocate the resources necessary to operationalise the various institutions of a democratic transition in line with the provisions of the Revitalised Agreement.
‘The United Nations stands ready to support South Sudan in that regard, including through the efforts being undertaken by the African Union and IGAD [Intergovernmental Authority for Development],’ the letter added.
