South Sudan’s National Legislative Assembly voted Tuesday to extend the life of Salva Kiir’s term in office by three years from 9 July 2015 to 9 July 2018.
The parliament also extended its own term as well as that of the state legislatures by three years.
270 members of parliament attended the sitting, with 264 voting in favor of the bill and 6 against, according to an unofficial tally.
The passing of the amended bill came after five hours of debate by the parliamentarians.
“The Transitional Constitution 2011 Amendment Bill of 2015 has been passed unanimously by more then two thirds majority,” said the parliamentary speaker Manasseh Magok Rundial after the vote.
Magok said the Parliament acted in accordance with the Transitional Constitution of South Sudan to amend Articles 66 and 164 to extend the president’s and legislature’s terms.
Dengtiel Kuur, chairperson of the legal affairs committee, said the country is passing through a civil war which may make it impractical to conduct elections with a peaceful transfer of power in accordance with the schedules and timelines provided by the constitution.
Dengtiel said the president and the legislature are empowered by Article 100 Subarticle 2 of the constitution to introduce and enact amendments to the constitution.
Article 202 was also amended to extend the mandate and tenure of the constitutional review commission to 31 December 2018.