![Oyet Nathaniel, first deputy speaker of parliament and deputy chair of SPLM-IO speaks to journalists during a press conference held in Juba on Sunday, 23 July 2023 [Photo by Sudans Post]](https://i0.wp.com/www.sudanspost.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/image-1.jpg?resize=1024%2C541&ssl=1)
Speaking to Sudans Post in an exclusive interview on Monday, Nathaniel said that the SPLM-IO is ready for elections, but that the government has not taken the necessary steps to ensure that they are held as planned.
“The SPLM-IO is ready for a free, fair and democratic elections and failure to reconstitute bodies such as the National Constitutional Review Commission (NCRC), the Political Parties’ Council, and the National Elections Commission (NEC) will affect the conduct of elections as scheduled,” Nathaniel said.
“Election is a process and not an event. You cannot conduct all these processes in only six months. You need at least two years to prepare for the elections,” he said, responding to suggestions that the election will be budgeted for in the 2024/2025 budget which would be passed in June next year.
Nathaniel also said that the government has not budgeted for elections in the fiscal budget 2023/2024, which he said suggests that it is not serious about holding them, saying that there is money and only lack of will is derailing the process.
“There is money and therefore it is only a lack of will from the revitalized transitional government which seems not interested in elections as it has not budgeted for it in the fiscal budget 2023/2024,” Nathaniel said.
The senior SPLM-IO official who is also the first deputy speaker of parliament further called on the government to take the necessary steps to ensure that elections are held in a free, fair, and transparent manner.
“We are calling on the government to take the necessary steps to ensure that elections are held in a free, fair and transparent manner,” Nathaniel said. “We want to see a government that is accountable to the people.”
