By Manas James<\/p>\n
A senior official from the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement In-Opposition (SPLM-IO) has expressed skepticism regarding the readiness to conduct free and fair elections at the end of the transitional period, next year.<\/p>\n
Michael Bol Gatdor, the Jonglei State SPLM-IO party secretary-general, highlights lack of political will to fulfill the necessary provisions outlined in the 2018 peace deal, saying this would ensure participation of all parties.<\/p>\n
Bol Gatdor emphasized that the SPLM-IO is in favor of elections but voiced concerns over the implementation of crucial provisions for a fair electoral process.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese include the unification and deployment of all Necessary Unified Forces, the enactment of a permanent constitution, the conducting of a census, and the repatriation of refugees or internally displaced persons (IDPs) to their respective constituencies. Failure to implement these provisions poses a challenge to conducting elections,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n
The SPLM-IO official accused President Kiir’s SPLM party of deliberately undermining the implementation of the peace deal, aiming to create an unfavorable electoral environment.<\/p>\n
He called upon the international community to intervene by pressuring for the fulfillment of key provisions, stressing that any election excluding other parties would have grave consequences.<\/p>\n
Adding to SPLM-Io\u2019s concerns, Bol Deng Bol, the chairperson of the Jonglei Civil Society Network (JCSN), conveyed similar apprehensions about the situation.<\/p>\n
He expressed fears that the year 2024 could be tumultuous if the current status quo persists.<\/p>\n
Bol emphasized that credible elections require complete implementation of security arrangements, a permanent constitution, and the issue of repatriation, among other democratic processes.<\/p>\n
Activist Bol asserted that failure to provide an equal playing field for all parties may lead to political turmoil, with potential boycotts or disputes over election results.<\/p>\n
Speaking at the United Nations Security Council, Nicholas Haysom, the UN Secretary-General’s representative in South Sudan, acknowledged the popular demand for elections but raised reservations.<\/p>\n
He cites failure to pass legislation and allocate a budget for elections, as well as reconstitute and resource key electoral institutions.<\/p>\n
Haysom stated the UN’s commitment to assisting South Sudan in conducting its first election by building capacity and expanding civic space, among other efforts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Manas James A senior official from the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement In-Opposition (SPLM-IO) has expressed skepticism regarding the readiness to conduct free and fair elections at the end of the transitional period, next year. Michael Bol Gatdor, the Jonglei State SPLM-IO party secretary-general, highlights lack of political will to[Read More…]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[116,79],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17881","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-jonglei-state","category-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17881","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17881"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17881\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17882,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17881\/revisions\/17882"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17881"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17881"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17881"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}