Election not an overnight event – opposition official

JUBA – A South Sudan main armed opposition official allied to First Vice President Dr. Riek Machar Teny has said that elections are not overnight events, but processes that need the commitment of the parties to the revitalized peace agreement.

President Salva Kiir Mayardit has said on several occasions that he will conduct the long-awaited elections at the end of the transitional period in 2023 even if it is to be conducted without census and opposition will.

The opposition has for its part demanded that transitional and pre-transitional tasks be completed before conduct of elections. They include the reunification of forces provided for in the security arrangements of the revitalized peace agreement.

In a statement, Dut Majokdit, a senior member of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in Opposition (SPLM-IO) led by Machar said the parties must commit themselves into the implementation of the agreement.

“The election is not like taking a cup of tea, it requires a legal framework and it is a process otherwise those politicians who think that we can go for elections next year before the [formation of the] unified army and the permanent constitution including the judiciary reforms are living in the world of assumptions,” he said.

“You can’t put the cart before the horse,” he added.

He said the parties must first “implement the peace agreement before we sing about elections in the country for our citizens to elect their leaders, let’s not divert public attention on the peace process to elections.”