Parliament has begun reviewing proposed amendments to the 2018 Revitalised Peace Agreement aimed at allowing general elections scheduled for 2026 to proceed.
A joint house committee from the Transitional National
Legislative Assembly and the Council of States on Friday discussed the changes
ahead of a plenary sitting expected next week.
The amendments seek to separate key transitional processes
from the electoral timeline, including the drafting of a permanent
constitution.
Assembly spokesperson Oliver Mori Benjamin told reporters
that the committee agreed that the constitution-making process and the census
requirement could be delinked from the peace agreement.
“The elected government shall conduct a national population
and housing census. This is recommended to be deleted for being redundant
because it will now be the responsibility of the elected government after the
elections,” Benjamin said.
On elections, Mori said the National Elections Commission is
expected to conduct polls 60 days before the end of the transitional period, in
line with the Transitional Constitution of South Sudan.
“There should not be any obstacles obstructing the conduct
of the elections by December 2026,” he said.
The amendments also revise voter registration timelines,
reducing the period for publishing the voter register from six months to three
months before elections.
Lawmakers further agreed that within two months of amending
the Transitional Constitution of South Sudan (2011, as amended), the National
Elections Commission Act (2012, as amended) will also be revised to align with
the updated framework.
The proposals also redefine the relationship between the
peace agreement and national laws, stating there is no supremacy of this over
that.
The amendments were drawn from proposals submitted by the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, Michael Makuei Lueth, and presented to the Inter-House Business Committee for consideration.
If passed, they will shape the legal and political framework guiding South Sudan’s transition toward the December 2026 general elections.
However, Western embassies in the country warned that anyattempt to amend the 2018 peace agreement without the participation of Dr. Riek
Machar is “illogical” and undermines the credibility of the country’s
transitional process.
Machar, leader of the SPLM-IO and First Vice President, is
currently in detention facing treason charges over the March 2025 Nasir
incident, which the government says left 257 SSPDF soldiers dead and caused the
destruction or loss of military equipment worth $58 million. His party, whose
senior members are in exile, has rejected the proposed amendments.