This came after President Salva Kiir Mayardit on Wednesday signed into law amendments to the 2018 Revitalized Peace Agreement, removing legal provisions that tied national elections to the completion of the permanent constitution-making process and a national population census.
Oyet Nathaniel Pierino, SPLM-IO Deputy Chairman, alleged that the government’s recent amendments to the 2018 Revitalized Peace Agreement were intended to manipulate the electoral process rather than create conditions for credible polls.
“As he has arrested and detained key political leaders and Dr. Riek Machar, the signatory to the agreement and a dozen other exiled people, President Salva Kiir Mayardit plans to rig elections by being the sole candidate and SPLM-IG the sole party,” Oyet said in a statement seen by Sudans Post on Thursday.
Oyet also claimed that Kiir signed away his political legitimacy by assenting to what he described as controversial amendments to the 2018 Revitalized Peace Agreement.
“After signing the bill for the unilateral amendment of the R-ARCSS on July 22, 2026, President Salva Kiir Mayardit has also signed off on his legitimacy and that of the government, and the answer cannot be elections,” Oyet said.
Oyet, who also serves as the acting commander-in-chief of the SPLA-IO, claimed that removing legal provisions linking elections to the completion of the permanent constitution-making process and a national population census would undermine the credibility of the polls.
“The outcome of such sham elections shall be null and void, as this is not elections, democracy, or political pluralism, whose quest has consumed the lives of our martyrs, heroes, and heroines,” he said.
“South Sudan was born with the cancer of the old system of the Sudan: marginalization, discrimination, dictatorship, tribalism, corruption, and militarization of politics.”
He claimed President Kiir has no interest in implementing political reforms or adopting a federal system of governance, arguing that federalism would have addressed many of South Sudan’s longstanding challenges.
Oyet also alleged that Kiir is unwilling to implement key governance reforms and transitional justice mechanisms provided for under the 2018 Revitalized Peace Agreement, including truth, reconciliation, and healing, as well as justice and accountability for victims of violence since the outbreak of the conflict in 2013.
“We are now presented with only two options: surrender and be killed and wiped out or resist, live, and liberate the country. We have chosen the latter; the struggle against one-party states, discrimination, and marginalization for good governance, for identity, for dignity, and for freedom shall continue,” he said.
“Those who doubted the resolve of President Salva Kiir Mayardit to destroy agreements and rule South Sudan on the basis of a one-party state, tribal, and monolithic bases now got the answer.”
