{"id":44186,"date":"2026-04-27T10:56:34","date_gmt":"2026-04-27T08:56:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/?p=44186"},"modified":"2026-04-28T10:59:24","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T08:59:24","slug":"activist-raises-alarm-over-delayed-election-funding-warns-2026-polls-at-risk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/27\/activist-raises-alarm-over-delayed-election-funding-warns-2026-polls-at-risk\/","title":{"rendered":"Activist raises alarm over delayed election funding, warns 2026 polls at risk"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Louis Loku<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The Community Empowerment for Progress Organisation (CEPO) has raised concerns over what it describes as the government\u2019s failure to provide timely and adequate funding to the National Elections Commission.<\/p>\n

He warned that the delay could jeopardise South Sudan\u2019s planned general elections scheduled for December 2026.<\/p>\n

Speaking to the media, Edmund Yakani, CEPO Executive Director, said the organisation is issuing an \u201celection alert\u201d over what it sees as a growing threat to the country\u2019s electoral preparations.<\/p>\n

Yakani said CEPO\u2019s concerns stem from repeated directives by President Salva Kiir Mayardit instructing the Ministry of Finance and Planning to release funds to the National Elections Commission, orders he claims have not been fully implemented.<\/p>\n

According to Yakani, despite several presidential directives, the ministry has failed to release sufficient funding to enable the commission to carry out key preparations for the December 2026 polls.<\/p>\n

He noted that the only significant disbursement so far has been $15 million, which the commission reportedly used to establish infrastructure across the states. However, Yakani warned that the electoral body is now facing a financial crisis at a critical stage in the electoral calendar.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs we speak now, the National Elections Commission is financially constrained, yet the deadline for major electoral preparations is fast approaching,\u201d Yakani said.<\/p>\n

He further accused some political leaders of publicly claiming the country is ready for elections while privately obstructing the timely release of funds needed to support the process.<\/p>\n

He warned that such contradictions risk undermining public confidence and the credibility of the elections.<\/p>\n

Yakani singled out officials managing the Ministry of Finance and Planning as key actors responsible for delays in election preparedness, arguing that their spending priorities suggest elections are not being treated as urgent.<\/p>\n

According to him, the ministry has continued to allocate funds to other government priorities. Including the completion of the State House and politically significant events, while failing to provide the resources required by the electoral commission.<\/p>\n

He cautioned that continued funding delays could force the commission to declare itself unprepared to organise elections in December 2026.<\/p>\n

Yakani added that the commission has less than a month to undertake critical activities such as voter education and voter registration, yet it remains underfunded and unable to provide clear guidance on the type of elections to be conducted.<\/p>\n

While the law provides for general elections, he noted that the commission has yet to clarify the full electoral framework due to operational and financial constraints.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a major challenge for the country\u2019s preparedness,\u201d Yakani said, warning that unless urgent action is taken, South Sudan risks failing to meet the conditions necessary for credible elections.<\/p>\n

CEPO has called on President Kiir and relevant government institutions to urgently ensure the timely and adequate release of funds to the National Elections Commission to prevent delays that could derail the country\u2019s electoral timetable.<\/p>\n

The organisation emphasised that immediate intervention is necessary to safeguard preparations for what is expected to be South Sudan\u2019s first elections under the revitalised peace agreement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Louis Loku The Community Empowerment for Progress Organisation (CEPO) has raised concerns over what it describes as the government\u2019s failure to provide timely and adequate funding to the National Elections Commission. He warned that the delay could jeopardise South Sudan\u2019s planned general elections scheduled for December 2026. Speaking to[Read More…]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":44124,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[80,79,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44186","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national","category-news","category-politics"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/CEPO-Executive-Director-Edmund-Yakani-courtesyMinister-Semaya-Visits-Governor-Adil-Discusses-Key-Development-Projects-in-Juba.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44186","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\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44186"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44186\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44187,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44186\/revisions\/44187"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44124"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44186"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44186"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onecitizendaily.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}