Speaking to reporters on Thursday last week, the state’s election committee chairperson, Joseph Akuei Yak, said the exercise aims to verify whether the polling stations used in 2010 remain intact and suitable for the upcoming elections.
Yak said the National Elections Commission has instructed voters and election officials to retain the 2010 constituencies because no new population census has been conducted to justify the creation of additional electoral constituencies.
“What we want to tell our local constituents is that the previous constituencies can be adopted, used and kept intact. No new constituencies can be added because no census has been conducted yet,” Yak said.
He said teams will be deployed across the state’s counties to assess the existing polling sites and determine whether any changes have occurred since the last elections.
“Our teams will be going out to assess the areas themselves and determine whether those constituencies are still intact. We will then submit a report so that the necessary electoral processes can proceed,” he added.
Yak also cited inadequate funding as one of the major challenges facing preparations for the elections.
“The issue of underfunding is a big problem, and we have to do what the National Elections Commission directs us,” he said.
South Sudan is preparing for elections amid persistent uncertainty over whether the polls will be held as scheduled. Critics argue that several key provisions of the 2018 Revitalized Peace Agreement remain unimplemented, including the completion of the permanent constitution-making process.
Others point to the slow unification of rival armed forces and continued mistrust between the South Sudan People’s Defence Forces (SSPDF) and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army-in-Opposition (SPLM/A-IO) as significant obstacles to a credible election.
Whether these concerns will be resolved before the election period remains uncertain.
