A political activist who works for the South Sudanese Network for Democracy and Elections (SSuNDE) and several citizens in Eastern Equatoria State have demanded clarity from the government regarding the December 2024 General Elections.
This comes amidst several doubts over the implementation of several pending issues in the 2018 peace agreement seen as prerequisites for the conduct of peaceful, transparent, and credible General Elections in the country.
Last month, the National Elections Commission (NEC) formed the state Elections High Committees across the country in addition to announcing the planned registration of voters this month, an activity that has not started.
According to the law, voter registration has to take place six months before elections, however, South Sudan is running out of time for the task.
SSuNDE’s John Baptist Olara who doubles as a political activist, now demands that the government come clean on the elections.
“It is good for the NEC to come out to tell us as South Sudanese what is really delaying so that we know if there will be elections or not because time is running out. It is very important to implement issues that have been planned otherwise people will lose trust and not believe it next time they say they will do something,” he charged. “We are losing hope about the occurrence of this elections because many things are being postponed. We are urging the government and other parties in the agreement to come out with one voice about their stand so that we know our leaders are telling us the truth.”
For her part, Flora Adudu Joseph Ojuku, a resident of Torit, said is not happy and doubts the elections will be conducted in December.
“There will be no elections without knowing the population figures or having a census. How are they going to do it anyway? In my opinion, there is nothing showing signs of elections because there are many pending tasks uncompleted,” she stated. “We are now in limbo whether elections will be done without census data. However, I feel elections must take place and the census has to happen in the remaining months. I am very disappointed because things are spoken but not followed. We want elections to happen peacefully.”
On his part, Rev. Solomon Oryem Abalang, a cleric of the Episcopal Church of South Sudan, said the government has never consulted the citizens on the elections and that political leaders do things in their interest at the expense of the poor.
“The time remaining is very small and what I know is that there will be no elections because many things remain pending. They are supposed to organize offices and the people who will conduct voter registration yet the registration forms have not yet been availed,” he said. “These things should have been done last year so that this year would have been only for implementation. As a church leader, I am very disappointed and I do not know where the government wants to take us. We pray that God gives them the wisdom to lead people in the right way.”
In response to citizens’ uproar, Professor Abednego Akok, the NEC chairperson, reaffirmed that the elections will take place as planned on 22 December 2o24.
“This July, I announced that that elections will take place on 22 December this year and this is according to the South Sudan National Election Act 2012 amended 2023,” he asserted. “The agreement between the government and other parties says before two months to the end the transitional period, there must be elections and all these laws are interconnected and must be implemented.”
When told that voter registration is way behind schedule, Prof. Akok said the constitution can be amended to ensure elections take place.
“The voter registration will take place and I have already written to the authorities in the country and if they approve, we will start. Secondly, if all resources are provided, we will start immediately the registration of voters and it will not take much time because it is something very simple,” he stated. “People will go to their villages and will be registered there and there will be registration centers, there will be amendment of the law.”
Prof. Akok added: “What I can tell South Sudanese is that we thank the leadership that announced elections to take place this year, the people have to use their votes in the right way, they will have to register their names and elect people who will come and serve them.”