AU leads delegation to assess election preparedness
A delegation from the African Union (AU) and its partners are set to conduct meetings with the peace partners over election preparations in South Sudan.
Speaking to The City Review, Joram Mukama Biswaro, the Head of African Union Mission in South Sudan, said the delegation, comprising AU, UNDP, IGAD, R-JMEC, and UN, are scheduled to hold meetings with the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, Minister of Interior, Minister of Cabinet Affairs, civil society organisations, the Speaker, and political parties, among others.
The delegation, which comprises a team of experts led by Professor Babatunde Fagbayibo, Professor Abraham Kuol Nyuon from UNDP and Ahmed Isaac Hassan arrived yesterday in the country and is set to be here for one week purposely to gather views from all stakeholders regarding the country’s readiness for the constitution-making process and elections.
A civil society activist, Guot Gabriel Manyang, who is the Chairman of Greater Upper Nile Concerned Youths for Peace and Stability (GUNCY-PAS), questioned the decision taken by the government plan for elections next year.
He said the government should not focus on elections because the most vital institutions have not been established.
His sentiments have been echoed by the Chair of U.N. Human Rights Commission on South Sudan, Yasmin Sooka, who said South Sudan is at a critical moment in its transition, where crucial provisions of the Revitalised Peace Agreement have still not been implemented and planned elections could plunge the country into massive violence.
Presenting the Sixth Report of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan to the Human Rights Council, Yasmin Sooka said the consequences of a rushed poll, within a contested political system, and without requisite security and democratic conditions in place, could indeed be disastrous.
She said the timetables and sequencing for constitution-making and national elections remain unclear despite the transitional period being scheduled to end next February 2023 and added that the lack of clarity leaves unanswered the bigger question of what kind of system that people will be voting for if the core elements of a constitution are not yet agreed.
“Both constitution-making and elections require considerable legal, institutional, security, and logistical arrangements which are still unestablished. Beyond these key legal and procedural considerations, it is critical to recognise the risks of further polarisation and political violence around elections, particularly when the insufficient groundwork has been laid for the process,” she said.
Prof Abenego Akok, chairperson of the National Electoral Commission, stated that a delay in enacting the Election Act 2012 may deter the long-awaited elections.
Prof Akok noted that the election should be conducted two months before the end of the transitional period, meaning that it should be conducted in December 2022.
“Until now the election framework which is the act has not been amended by the current parliament. It should be sent to the national assembly, to be passed as a law because the R-ARCSS recommended some areas to be amended before sixty days could come nearer. So, our concern as technical people is to concentrate on these metrics of 36 months of the peace agreement, “Prof. Akok said.
The official spokesperson of South Sudan Opposition Alliance (SSOA), Brig. Gen. Samuel Shan, recently cautioned that failure to unify forces prior to the elections would make the country not to run a free and fair election.
