The archbishop of the Catholic Archdiocese of Juba has called on the political parties to stop "election phobia" and go for elections this December.
The country prepares to hold its first-ever general elections this year, just two months before the end of the transitional period.
However, the main parties to the peace agreement continue to express different opinions about the conduct of elections due to slow progress in the implementation of the deal.
Cardinal Stephen Ameyu called on the parties to fill the remaining gaps through dialogue to ensure South Sudanese exercise their democratic rights this year.
“I urge the government and the opposition to look for ways to cover the gaps that are left and go for elections. I encourage that people really go for elections so that the people select their leaders,” Ameyu said.
“We support the wish of South Sudanese to always have democracy prevail in their communities. That is the only way the church will think that we are free to express ourselves, and we are free to elect who represents us at the parliament or other institutions.”
The church leader stated that citizens have local mechanisms for choosing leadership, which should be built on to realize the desired democracy.
“People need to elect their own leaders, whoever they are. It is not a big problem. First of all, we know that our people have local elections where we can stand on the line and follow whom we want to be our leader, whether a chief or a MP,” he stated.
“Those are simple ways of [voting]. It will not cost us thousands of dollars. Let us use those ways of doing elections so that we don't get a kind of election phobia that I am going to be thrown because I am not representing my people well, but I think when people are represented well, they will always elect those who speak on their behalf.”
The 2018 revitalized peace agreement and the roadmap stipulate that the transitional government must hold elections 60 days prior to the end of the transitional period.
“So, now we as a church are supportive of the move to, at the end of this period, go for election. We encourage all parties to the agreement to prepare for this election,” Ameyu emphasized.
Despite the SPLM-IG's determination to hold the election by the end of this year, the opposition SPLM-IO maintains that the country must first implement all the necessary conditions for a free, fair, and credible election.
The opposition proposed two more years of extension to allow for the implementation of the prerequisites.
The requirements include the completion of security arrangements, the creation of the permanent constitution, the conduct of the national population census, and the reparation and compensation of refugees and internally displaced persons.
The National Election Commission recently announced that voter registration is set to begin in June of this year.
