South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir, on 24 June 2022, assented to the Political Parties Act, 2012 (Amendment) Act, 2022.

Section 3 of the Preliminary Provisions of the Act reviewed by Radio Tamazuj states that the Purpose of the Act is to provide for the establishment of a Political Parties Council and a legal framework to regulate the establishment of political parties and all other matters incidental thereto.

Section 4 of the Preliminary Provisions states: “The provisions of this Act shall apply to all political parties that will register in the Republic of South Sudan in accordance with sections 6 and 7 of this Act. All registered political parties shall be required to comply with the provisions of the Act within six (6) months of its enactment.” 

However, it should be noted that President Kiir signed the amended Act into law in June last year and that the Political Parties Council has not yet been constituted. 

According to Section 6 which deals with Applications for Provisional Registration; an association of persons or organizations applying to be registered as a political party may apply to the Council for provisional registration in writing and be signed by the applicants of whom at least thirty-five percent are women.

An application for provisional registration shall be accompanied by a copy of the constitution of the political party, a signed resolution of the first meeting of the founding members, policies, plans, and manifesto, the name of the political party, and if it proposes to use an abbreviation of its name for the purposes of this Act, set out that abbreviation.

The application should also list its political party leaders, an undertaking to be bound by the Constitution and the Act, the proposed party emblem and logo, and be accompanied by the prescribed fees.

Upon application for registration, the Council shall, within thirty (30) days of the application, issue a certificate of provisional registration.

According to the amended Act, a political party that has been provisionally registered, shall no later than one hundred and eighty (180) days from the date of the provisional registration, apply to the Council for full registration.

Section 6 (6) stipulates that the Council shall within seven (7) days of the receipt of the application publish a notice in the Gazette or at least two newspapers having nationwide circulation inviting objections from any person or other political party concerning registration of the political party.

It is, however, important to note that the provisional registration of a political party that has not applied for full registration will expire 180 days after the issue of the certificate of provisional registration. A party whose provisional registration has expired shall be barred from reapplying under Section 6 for a continuous period of 12 months from the date of expiration.

Section 6 (10) also says that the provisional registration of a political party that has applied for full registration shall be valid until the party is issued with a certificate of full registration or until the application of the political party to be registered has been rejected.

It is vital to note that according to Section 6 (11), a party that has only been provisionally registered shall not be entitled to participate in any election.

The amended Section 7 of the Act which deals with the Application for Full Registration, stipulates that no persons or organizations shall operate or function as a political party unless it has been registered per the provisions of the Act. 

Section 7(2) says an application for full registration of a political party shall be in writing and shall be signed by an authorized official of the political party.  

According to Section 7(3), a provisionally registered political party shall be qualified to be fully registered only if it has recruited as members, not less than five hundred eligible voters from at least two-thirds of the states and administrative areas.

(*Ed: This means that political parties have to have 500 members per state or administrative areas in at least 8 of the 10 states and 3 administrative areas.)

It goes ahead to stipulate that the members should reflect regional and ethnic diversity, and gender balance/representation.

To attain full registration, the composition of the party’s governing body should also reflect regional and ethnic diversity and gender balance; at least 35% of the members of its governing body are women and it has demonstrated that members of its governing body meet the requirements of the Constitution and this Act.

The other requirements are that the party has submitted to the secretariat a list of the names, addresses, and identification particulars of all its members; the location of its head office within South Sudan and the address to which communications can be sent; the location and addresses of the branch offices of the political party and it has undertaken to be bound by the Act and the regulations. 

Section 7(4) also states that a person is disqualified from being a member of the governing body if that person is an undischarged bankrupt (Ed: Bankruptcy still in progress) or has contravened the Constitution or relevant law.

When a provisionally registered political party meets all the requirements and conditions for full registration, the Council shall then within sixty (60) days of an application under Section 2 of the Act, issue a certificate of full registration.

However, a person who is not a citizen of South Sudan shall not be appointed to any office in a political party in South Sudan.

The Council may, however, refuse an application for the registration of a political party if the name of the political party, the abbreviation of the name, or the symbol it desires to use is obscene or offensive; is the name, or is an abbreviation of another political party that is already registered, or nearly resembles the name or symbol, or an abbreviation of the name of another political party registered under the Act or any other legal entity registered under any other applicable law.

The Council can also deny registration if a political party fails to comply with the requirements of the Constitution and the Political Parties Act.

However, Section 7(8) states that any political party whose application for registration is denied may appeal to the Court against the decision of the Council and the Court shall determine the matter within ninety (90) days, which shall be final.