The main opposition leader and first vice president of South Sudan has stated that he is prepared for general elections. However, he emphasized that for the elections to be credible, the terms of the 2018 peace agreement must be put into effect.
Dr. Riek Machar met with Nicholas Haysom, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General, and head of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), and Guy Warrington, the United Kingdom’s Ambassador to South Sudan, on Thursday in Juba.
The officials discussed the upcoming general elections and other pressing issues, including humanitarian situations, where Dr. Machar emphasized the importance of elections as a democratic process and the end point of the peace agreement.
Machar expressed the readiness of his party, the Sudan People Liberation Movement in Opposition (SPLM-IO), for elections but emphasized the call for the implementation of the peace agreement for a transparent election.
“He stressed the need to fulfill the prerequisites of the elections to ensure a fair, free, credible, and transparent electoral process. These prerequisites include the full implementation of security arrangements, the repatriation of refugees and IDPs to their places of origin, conducting censuses, establishing a permanent constitution, and availing of funds for activities leading to the elections, among others,” a statement from his office partly reads.
“He pointed out that the country is not yet ready for it [the election] and that the prerequisites must be met for the elections to be successful.”
The call for a “must” meeting of the prerequisites for election by the Dr. Machar camp has been repeatedly played down by the government.
The Constitution is one of the major conditions for the conduct of elections. However, in September 2023, the government spokesperson, Michael Makuei, told reporters after the regular council of ministers’ meeting that the elections would be held without the constitution.
“What we are saying is that the current constitution-making process, yes! Will continue, but we will continue with elections according to the current constitution. We will amend the current constitution so that it gives us the power to elect. The body that will be elected will be a constituent assembly,” Makuei said.
Also in October last year, Makuei said elections will take place this year regardless of whoever cites a lack of country readiness for general elections.
“For us (the government), we are moving, and as such, we are going for elections; anybody who is not going for elections is free because it is not compulsory,” Makuei stated.
Since last year, the ruling party SPLM, led by President Salva Kiir, has launched its campaigns for elections, but Machar has maintained his call for full implementation of the peace agreement in order to hold successful elections.
South Sudan is scheduled to hold its first ever general election in December this year since the country gained independence from Sudan on July 9, 2011.
