Oyet Nathaniel, the deputy chairman of the opposition SPLM-IO, says the party will be ready for elections if critical pending tasks of the peace agreement are implemented.

The Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in-Opposition (SPLM-IO), one of the main parties to the 2018 peace agreement, is led by First Vice President Riek Machar.

On 4 August 2022, parties to the agreement signed on to a further two-year extension of the governance arrangements, postponing general elections until December 2024. 

Speaking at a press conference in Juba on Sunday, Oyet Nathaniel emphasized that the party is fully ready for the electoral process but with a strong emphasis on ensuring that the elections are conducted in a manner that is free, fair, and credible.

Nathaniel, who is also the first deputy speaker of Parliament, expressed concerns over the possibility of “sham elections” that could potentially reignite conflict in the country.

“Our position as SPLM-IO is that we are ready for elections that are free, fair and credible elections, not sham elections and that means for us to arrive for elections, we must budget for it now in order to carry out activities that will take us to elections,” said Oyet.

The senior SPLM-IO official further urged the Ministry of Finance and Planning to take prompt action and consider working on a supplementary budget to address any financial requirements related to the electoral process. Adequate funding, according to Nathaniel, would be crucial for successfully conducting activities leading up to the elections.

“The Caucus urged the National Ministry of Finance to cause without delay a supplementary budget in the FY2023/2024 Budget for the following critical pending tasks of the Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan for timely conduct of free, fair and credible elections,” he concluded.