The Civil Society Network in Eastern Equatoria State (CSNEES) has declared its stand and recommended that a census be done and security arrangements fully implemented before any peaceful and democratic elections can be held.
The network made the pronouncement during a meeting with the National Election Commission (NEC) high-level delegation that was carrying out consultations in Torit on Tuesday.
George Lemi, the NEC spokesperson, however, categorically stated that elections would proceed with or without a census, security arrangements, and a Permanent Constitution.
CSNEES comprises over 50 civil society organizations from across the state including women’s groups, youth organizations, faith-based groups, people with disability, and others.
The network said it stands with the resolutions of the civil society meeting in Juba which called for the political party’s dialogue and implementation of the peace agreement to ensure peaceful, transparent, and democratic elections.
Oryema Emmanuel, the state coordinator for South Sudan Network for Democratic Elections, said the elections have failed several times but that the roadmap confirmed that elections will be held in December despite the lack of a Permanent Constitution.
“We are going to have elections on the 22 December 2024 and the agreement that legitimizes this current government says we need to have a permanent constitution for this country. The question is which constitution are we going to use to conduct the 2024 elections? Chapter two of the peace agreement talks about the parameters of the permanent ceasefire; the transitional security arrangements and we have seen the first batch of the unified forces being graduated,” he said. “I have not seen the deployment in Eastern Equatoria although the agreement says they are supposed to be deployed in all the states. The second batch is supposed to have been graduated by now. The question here is how do we guarantee the security of the 2024 elections because the national army protects the citizens, their properties, and the sovereign integrity of the nation from any foreign aggression.”
“It is good that activities of elections have started but we have not seen the calendar yet because this can help us know many things like the time for campaigns, registration, and many things,” Oryem added.
According to the activist, for any elections to be conducted, it is important to determine geographical constituencies to avoid manipulation of figures and statistics.
“The valid question I can ask now is which population census results are we going to use for the conduct of the 2024 National Elections,” he queried.
For his part, Charles Onen Lokwaruk, the CSNESS, said rumors abound that the elections might not be held in December.
“We are hearing rumors that the elections that we are anticipating may not be conducted in December as prescribed in the agreement and the rumors are spreading like wildfire. You, NEC’s Chief Electoral Officer Mac Maika Deng, said you are waiting for census figures from the National Bureau of Statistics (SSNBS) to be able to proceed with elections. This means they have to carry out a census,” he stated. “However, recently when we had the conference in Juba, the chairperson of the SSNBS said that even if they are given USD 200 million to organize a census, they will not be able to do it unless they are given 18 months yet and elections are supposed to be based on those census figures.”
Onen added: “I do not know how you are going to compromise this so that we have elections.”
Meanwhile, Charles Okullo Cypriano, the Executive Director of Peace Link Foundation (PLF), expressed fear over the lack of clarity on the upcoming elections.
“How can we go and ease the fears of our citizens when we have not understood with clarity? We should understand things right on the table to know black and white. CSOs do not seek for power and we shall never seek for power. My concern is that you tend to be removing yourself from political processes of the country and want to only talk on the electoral process which is one of the political processes,” he said. “So, you cannot remove yourselves from answering certain questions and answer others selectively. This will generate more phobias. Let us speak as a team to achieve what we need. There has been too much of extension (of the tenure of this government), maybe due to lack of political will and we have already witnessed this as civil society.”
Okullo added: “The position of civil society was clear that the prerequisites that my colleagues have already mentioned are supposed to be implemented and elections will be the last activity.”
Hat to implement the outstanding provisions of the peace agreement, all the parties should have a spirit of dialogue but it is not momentarily clear if they are even talking.
“We now need to have a spirit of patriotism and not betray each other again. We want to have a peaceful, transparent, and credible election that is favorable for all of us but it has to be conducted in a very conducive environment without anybody complaining,” Okullo stated. “The Necessary Unified Forces (NUF) is very clear and we cannot run away from it. We are not operating in space and nobody can come and convince us that without full unification of forces, things will be well.”
“We do not want elections that will take us back to the history (war) that we still have the hangover in our minds,” he warned.
Responding to the CSO representatives, George Lemi, the NEC spokesperson, admitted that they raised pertinent issues and questions that can only be answered by the NEC. He however immediately contradicted himself by saying he could not answer any question about the census and statistics.
“Let us look at census from the broader picture and not limit our understanding of it only to elections. Then let us put the country and people at heart because the sovereignty belongs to the citizens. Elections can happen without census and India has done elections without census and the last they did was in 2010 but they love their country and hold elections,” he clarified. “The constitution is not our mandate to answer but as a national and intellectual, I can draw for you examples from some countries like Kenya which did its constitution in late 2000 yet it has been conducting elections.”
He declared that with or without a census, security arrangements, and a Permanent Constitution, the elections would be held.
“I am speaking as a nationalist that let us allow the people of South Sudan to exercise their democratic rights. The official statement comes from NEC and even the government gets from us we direct the information about elections,” he concluded. “Of course, there are parties to the agreement but what is happening are rumors and as the NEC spokesperson, we are meeting you here and I want to assure you that the election will happen. You have to disregard all the information against elections.”