South Sudan opposition leader says no known deal between parties for elections happen in 2023

JUBA – Prominent South Sudan opposition leader and chairman of the National Democratic Movement (NDM), Dr. Lam Akol Ajawin, has said that the parties to the revitalized peace agreement are on the same boat for general elections to take place in 2023, saying the transitional period begun on February 22, 2021, and that elections should be conducted around December 22, 2022.

President Salva Kiir Mayardit has promised that elections provided for at the end of the transitional period in the revitalized peace agreement will take place in 2023. Opposition leaders such as First Vice President Dr. Riek Machar Teny and Vice-President for Youth and Gender Cluster Rebecca Nyandeng De Mabior have dismissed that, saying security sector reform and return of refugees were crucial before elections.

But President Salva Kiir has said that elections will – anyway – take place in 2023 “regardless of what Machar and others” say

In an opinion article published on Sudans Post Thursday, Akol who is also the Secretary-General of South Sudan Opposition Alliance (SSOA), said the implementation of the revitalized peace agreement is being deliberately delayed by unnamed parties and that there are two scenarios for the tactical delay.

“There is little doubt that the implementation is being deliberately delayed as far as possible in order to achieve one of two possible scenarios, either that the elections are conducted without fulfilling the requirements that will ensure free and fair elections, or failing to conduct the elections, the Transitional Period would be extended with the same actors in charge,” Akol said.

“In both cases one particular party in the agreement would consolidate its grip on power, even at the risk of igniting another violence if the outcome of the elections is contested. None of these scenarios should be allowed to pass; at least not in the way those planning for them would want,” he added.

He said no agreement has been made by the parties for the elections, which is supposed to be in December next year, will be conducted in 2023, saying the remaining one year to the proposed 2023 deadline won’t be enough for the implementation of the remaining peace tasks such as the reformation of the security sector.

“To begin with, one is not aware of an agreement between the Parties to conduct the elections in 2023.  Since the Transitional Period commenced on 22 February 2020, then according to R-ARCSS, the elections must be conducted on 22 December 2022,” he said.

“For sure, even if all the good faith in the world descends on the Parties, the implementation of all the remaining activities of the peace agreement will not be possible in the remaining one year to the time to conduct elections, two months before the end of the Transitional Period,” he added.

“Since, general election is the preferred way to change the government and break the current vicious circle in South Sudan politics, attention should focus henceforth on how to carry out a free and fair election in the remaining 12 months.

“Elections where no Party will cry foul and pull the country back to war. With this understanding in mind, the priority should be how to conduct the elections and implement the aspects of the agreement related to or have a bearing on the conduct of a free and fair election. The rest of the agreement activities will have to be implemented by the elected government.”