We are ready for election with or without Constitution, says Makuei
By James Chatim
The Minister of Information and Government Spokesperson, Michael Makuei Lueth, said the planned December 2026 election will not be obstructed.
He said they are ready to go for the election with or without the permanent constitution as long as Chapter 2 of the peace agreement is implemented.
“There will be Phase II, now Phase I has already gone, but this time, we want to expedite Phase II by reviewing the agreement so that we reduce these stages,” he said.
Makuei explained that this time there will be no Cantonment site as the forces will be taken directly for training.
“We had never been standing against these arrangements, but of course, because the agreement was partly imposed on us. These are some of the provisions that we were against by then, and this is why it became difficult for us to implement it,” said Makuei.
“So, what we will do, we will. This time we will expedite the process, and we may decide to do without one of the phases, that is, the cantonment phase will no longer be there, but from the assembling directly to the training center,” he explained.
Makuei said this should not be considered as though the SPLM-IG is against the agreement. Instead, they want to expedite the process.
Speaking about the SPLM-IO members who are still in detention, Makuei said those who are under arrest will continue under investigation.
“And those who are not in conflict with the law, we will continue to dialogue with them, because necessity requires us to dialogue. So we will continue to dialogue with them. We will continue to dialogue with the new administration.”
He claimed the SPLM-IO initiative in the recent conflict after assessing that they would win in the upcoming elections. “All these obstructions are simply because those groups, the SPLM-IO, have conducted their own studies and they have found that they are losing elections.”
“And if they are losing elections, then why go for elections? So in order not to go for elections, you must all the time continue to obstruct, so that we continue to negotiate and extend the transition period,” Makuei explained.
“This time, we are saying no more extensions. Despite the obstructions being felt and the hurdles being laid, we will go for elections. With or without the Constitution, with or without anything, all that we need is to reorganize Chapter 2 and make sure that Chapter 2 is done,” he explained.
