President Salva Kiir's term in office will end five months from today, after which he will no longer legally be president unless either the end-date of the term is amended or he is elected to a new term.

South Sudan's constitution states in Article 100, “The tenure of the office of the President of the Republic of South Sudan shall be four years, commencing from July 9, 2011.”

On the same date, the terms of other office-holders including national and state MPs, governors and ministers will also come to an end.

There are only two legal ways for Kiir and his government to maintain their positions after 9 July: the first way is to carry out an election; the second way is to amend the constitution. Such an amendment would need to change the phrase "four years" in Article 100 to "five years" or more.

In order to amend the constitution two-thirds of both houses of the legislature must vote to approve the amendment.

Also required is that the draft amendment be introduced at least one month prior to deliberations. This means Kiir's supporters in parliament will have to introduce such an amendment by early June at the latest.

Less than four months therefore remain for Kiir to develop a political and legislative strategy for passing a constitutional amendment. Kiir's most recent legislation -- the National Security Act 2014 -- was defeated in parliament.

The election option has also been widely discussed, but parliament has not yet approved funding for carrying out an election. Opposition groups have filed a lawsuit against the Elections Commission for planning to hold an election without doing a census first.

File photo: Salva Kiir holds the constitution, 9 July 2011