The chairman of the National Democratic Movement (NDM) on Sunday said the pre-requisites necessary to carry out free, fair, and credible elections 18 months from now are not in place.
Dr. Lam AKol, in an NDM statement on South Sudan’s twelfth Independence Day anniversary, said last year his party suggested a way out of the failure to fulfill the obligations of the parties under the revitalized peace agreement regarding the way forward when it was obvious that conducting elections was not going to be possible.
“The NDM position is for the political forces in the country including the hold-out groups to join their brothers in the civil society organizations in a round table conference outside the country to discuss and agree on the way’ forward for our country to alleviate the suffering our people have been reeling under before and after independence,” Dr. Akol said at the time.
He now says his call was unfortunately not heeded and that one month after he made it, the Parties to the agreement chose to extend the Transitional Period without any guarantees as to how the implementation will be different from the previous three years.
“Today, five months into the extended transitional period and seventeen months to December 2024, the implementation pace of the agreement, especially fulfilling the pre-requisites, remains very slow. In the plenary meeting of RJMEC held on 6 July 2023, both the head of UNMISS and the Acting Chairman of RJMEC made it clear that, as things stand, it will not be possible to hold credible elections under the current conditions and status of implementation of the R-ARCSS and urged the Parties to double up the implementation of the pre-requisites,” Dr. Akol said. “In a survey among the people of South Sudan conducted recently, an overwhelming majority among them support the conduct of the elections as scheduled so that our people can vote to choose their leaders for the first time since the country became independent twelve years ago.”
“At the same time a flawed and bungled election that does not meet the pre-requisites is out of the question as its consequences are too ugly to contemplate so what is the way out?” he asked
According to Dr. Akol, as the general elections near, it must be admitted that the lack of will in implementing the agreement still persists and the confidence deficit has not shown any sign of slackening.
“On that basis, the NDM presents a two-pillar proposal to accelerate the pace of meeting the requirements of creating a conducive atmosphere for conducting the elections. First, no elections can be conducted without a level space for all the competing parties, the media, and civil society to exercise their rights of free speech, assembly, association, and movement all over the country,” he said. “These rights are enshrined in our constitution. Therefore, providing political space for all is not just a prerequisite but a precondition for the conduct of any election. And this does not require the enactment of a new law or spending money. It only needs the government to put it into practice; it is here that its political will shall be tested.”
The NDM boss said that the government should take the initiative to instruct security organs to refrain from harassing political parties and journalists who hold or report views contrary to those of SPLM-IG, and organize frequent joint trips to various locations in the States and Administrative Areas so that the intended open space is seen in practice by our people.
“This exercise will also help build trust among all the stakeholders that elections are a competition to serve the people, not one to eliminate the other. It is only when the free space is among us that we will prove our seriousness to bring about the exercise of democracy,” Akol said. “Then and only then will we bring the country into the election mood to replace the current skepticism and trust deficit in what the politicians preach.”
He said the conduct of elections is a process and that some procedures must commence as early as a year or more before the voting day.
“For instance, the Political Parties Act was passed last year and there is no reason why the Political Parties Council has not been instituted up to this time. It is this Council that is constitutionally mandated to register the political parties and regulate the conduct of political activity in the country,” Akol advised. “We urge RTGoNU to move on this without delay so that the political parties prepare for registration. The Transitional National Legislature needs also to adopt the bills already tabled before it including the National Security Service and National Elections bills. These laws are critical for the conduct of the elections.”
Akol added that practical difficulties facing the implementation of some prerequisites, such as conducting a census, could be tackled by the Parties amicably and in good faith once an open space for the conduct of the elections is in place.
“By October this year it should be clear whether it will be possible to conduct the elections in December 2024,” he said. “This is the deadline to beat.”