TWIC — Residents of Twic County of Warrap State on Monday staged a peaceful protest against plans to share an electoral constituency with the Abyei Administrative Area ahead of South Sudan’s December 2026 general elections.
Local residents, including students, civil society representatives, youth, women, and community leaders, marched to the county headquarters on Monday to submit a petition to Executive Director Joseph Ngong Ngon, expressing their opposition to the proposed constituency sharing.
The residents said the proposed arrangement could undermine their political representation and called on the authorities responsible for the electoral process to reconsider the decision.
As the protesters marched with placards and banners, they called for the restoration of their former constituency, urging the National Elections Commission to respect the constituency boundaries it had previously declared.
The protest comes amid longstanding tensions between the Twic and Ngok Dinka communities over the disputed area of Aneet.
Angelo Deng Thuc, a youth representative in Twic County, said the protesters were demanding their legitimate right to participate in the upcoming elections without having to share a constituency with residents of the Abyei Administrative Area.
“All we demand is a fair voting of the Twic community people without the involvement of the Abyei people,” Deng told Sudans Post on Monday.
Deng said the protesters want the people of Abyei to elect their own representatives within their administrative area, while allowing the people of Twic to independently choose their leaders.
“As they are having their own constituencies, they have to exercise their right of voting without interference,” Deng said.
“Areas like Aneet and Ajak-kuac have people from Abyei, and we want these places to remain as part of Twic County, where our people should exercise their voting rights.”
Joseph Ngong Ngon, Executive Director in the Office of the Commissioner, acknowledged receipt of the petition and pledged to work toward addressing the protesters’ grievances.
“I will present the document to our commissioner, up to our governor, Bol Wek Agoth, so that your concerns are heard by the president,” Ngong said.
The Twic community has had a strained relationship with the Abyei community over longstanding land disputes in areas including Aneet and parts of Ajak-Kuach.
In July 2026, the National Elections Commission (NEC) announced the creation of three temporary constituencies to address an unresolved territorial dispute ahead of the December 2026 elections.
Under the constituency allocation announced by the NEC, Warrap State and the Abyei Administrative Area will have 12 constituencies.
Constituency No. 1 combines Abyei and Twic, while Twic County retains three additional constituencies—Nos. 2, 3, and 4.
The arrangement has drawn criticism from citizens in both Twic County and Abyei, who argue that the combined constituency could undermine fair representation and fail to adequately address the interests of both communities.
