Lawyers representing the South Sudanese government before the Supreme Court have asked for dismissal of a petition against the earlier announced plans for elections in 2015 arguing that the petitioners are not legally registered or recognized as political parties.

South Sudan's cabinet last month called off plans to hold an election this June instead saying it would seek parliamentary approval for extension of the tenure of the government.

A court case earlier filed by a coalition of opposition parties challenged the legality of the elections plans on the basis that the census has not yet been conducted and insecurity in many parts of the country would potentially disenfranchise many voters.

Government lawyers say the parties had no right even to petition the court.

Chief Justice Chan Reech Madut today requested the political parties to present their registration certificates at the next hearing on 10 March, per the request of the defense lawyer, who represents the elections commission, Jeremiah Soko Wani.

Jeremiah, who is also the Undersecretary in the Ministry of Justice, said that the petitioners include non-registered political parties.  

“The petition is not proper in accordance with the law and that petition speaks of several petitioners and as we look through the petitioners, there is only one petitioner that we recognized: that is SPLM-DC," said Wani.

For his part, the advocate representing the political parties has accepted the request by the court to submit their certificate of registration in written form. He said that all the political parties had been registered in Sudan before but in South Sudan no political party has been registered yet, not even the ruling SPLM party itself, he said.