Kiir’s party alleges its election rallies blocked in areas controlled by SPLA-IO

JUBA – South Sudan’s ruling Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) party led by President Salva Kiir Mayardit has claimed that its election campaign rallies were blocked in some areas under the control of the main armed opposition Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army in Opposition (SPLM/SPLA-IO) led by First Vice President Dr. Riek Machar Teny.

The ruling party has been engaged in political rallies across the country since beginning of the year to prepare itself for the would-be 2023 elections in which it is expected to compete with the Machar-led opposition group that has however threatened to boycott the poll if transitional tasks provided for in the revitalized peace agreement are not implemented.

Speaking to journalists during a press conference in the capital Juba on Friday afternoon, SPLM Interim Secretary-General Peter Lam Both said his party has registered about 4.5 million members in five months, but alleged that their political rallies were blocked by SPLA-IO commanders in areas that the main armed opposition group controls.

“Since the launch of the SPLM renaissance mission in March this year which our competition took for elections campaign, we have registered more than 4.5 million people as members of the SPLM across the states,” Lam said.

“With exception of some counties where SPLM-IO commanders are not informed that we are at peace in Juba, they denied SPLM to organize [rallies] in those areas even as we allow IO elements to enjoy in the areas which we control,” the top SPLM official claimed.

SPLM-IO THREATS

The comments by the SPLM Interim Secretary General followed threats by the SPLM-IO last week that it won’t participate in the would-be 2023 general elections unless all the provisions provided for in the revitalized peace agreement signed in 2018 are implemented.

Speaking during the launch of the SPLM-IO membership registration in Juba on Saturday, SPLM-IO deputy chairman and first deputy speaker of the transitional national legislative assembly, Oyet Nathaniel Pierino, said his group is not afraid of elections but wants the peace deal to be fully implemented.

“We are not afraid of going for elections in this country. In fact, in 2013, we were calling for elections because the only election which was held in South Sudan was held when we were Southern Sudan in 2010,” Oyet said.

“We don’t want an election which is not free, and which is not fair to take place in South Sudan. We want an election which is credible, an election which grantees the rights and inspirations of the people of South Sudan, an election where South Sudanese will have an opportunity to vote for the leaders of their choices and not anybody choosing for them the leaders,” he said.

‘DON’T CREATE POLITICAL TENSIONS’

In a statement following the remarks by the SPLM Interim Secretary General, the Community Empowerment for Progress Organization (CEPO) expressed fears over the engagement of the two main signatories of the revitalized peace agreement and urged them to avoid engaging in rhetoric that can create political tensions that undermine the relative peace in the country.

“Community Empowerment for Progress Organization is urging the SPLM and SPLM-IO to take responsibility of not creating political tension that will develop to worse and increase public mistrust and lack of confidence on them as peace partners are not ready to transition the country from violence to peace through the implementation of the Revitalized agreement on the Resolution of Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan (R-ARCSS),” the CEPO statement reads in part.

“Through our electoral observation initiative, we are disturbed that the SPLM and SPLM-IO have begun electoral political frictions already and this is during unclear political environment for conduct of elections,” Edmund Yakani, the Executive Director of the Community Empowerment for Progress Organization said.