Leaders urged to commit to peaceful elections by December 2026
By Aguok Chok
South Sudan leaders have been urged to get it right this time round end ensure peace and stability in the country before the December 2026 elections. Civil rights activist, Edmund Yakani said political and armed leaders should commit to credible, peaceful, and non-violent elections by December 2026.
Yakani expressing his deep concern for the country’s slow progress in transitioning from conflict to peace. “With the high respect and honor, I would like to take this opportunity to raise my voice loudly to the attention of our political class and gun class and citizens in South Sudan and outside,” he said. “We are all aware that for the last five to six years our country is dragging its feet in transitioning from violence to peace.”
“Why dragging its feet? Simply, our political class and gun class have a high level of deficit in trust and confidence for working together to transition the country from violence to peace,” he stated.
He pointed out that historical personal grievances among leaders have become a key factor in the political instability and insecurity facing the nation. “This is much more influenced with their historical personal grievance that they have towards each other which they have tended to become now a factor of creating political instability and insecurity in the country,” he added.
Yakani emphasized that elections are the only viable solution for transitioning South Sudan from violence to peace. “The only viable option we can transition from violence to peace is through conducting a viable, credible and peaceful elections or non-violent elections,” he said.
“Elections is not the only option for an honorable and peaceful shift of power. But, we need to call upon the leadership of the country to undertake critical political decisions that help the National Election Commission to create a good enough conditions for the conduct of peaceful and credible elections.”
Under CEPO’s campaign banner “No Return to War,” Yakani labeled the upcoming 2026 elections as “elections for peace.” He passionately appealed to all South Sudanese: “How much discontented we are, how much angry we are, whatever level of misunderstanding or disagreement we have towards each other, our appeal to you as a civil society activist—and to every South Sudanese at the same time—is that let us stand for election. And these elections should be elections for peace.”
Warning that failure to secure peace within two years could plunge the nation deeper into violence, he said, “If we don’t have peace in the next two years, this country will deteriorate to a level that violence becomes the language that we want to speak rather than dialogue.”
