South Sudan says will hold elections in May 2015

January 1, 2015 (JUBA) – South Sudanese government said on the eve of New Year that it would go ahead with preparations and plans to hold general elections, ignoring calls from opposition political parties to delay the vote.

South Sudanese presidential spokesperson told Sudan Tribune on Thursday that the chairperson of the elections commission held discussions with the president and all the stakeholders, including other political parties and it was agreed that elections would be held in May.

“Because June will be a rainy season, it was agreed that elections will be held in May. The elections calendar will be out soon,” Ateny Wek Ateny said on Thursday. He added that the campaign period will start in March.

Meanwhile, the head of the National Elections Commission (NEC), Abednego Akok Kachuol, in a separate interview said elections will be held in accordance with the provisions of the constitution and the elections calendar will be released soon after consultations.

“As a commission we are doing our work in accordance with the constitution which provides to hold the election in 2015. We are consulting all the stakeholders and we are almost finishing it,” Kachuol disclosed.

He said they reached the leaders of political parties, and members of the national parliament, and they will release the electoral calendar once they finish the assessment of the inputs of these consultations.

The presidential spokesperson said anybody who wants to ascend to power should participate in the vote, so that the people decide who they would like to be the leader of the country instead of changing the government and the institutions through means which are unconstitutional.

The general elections include the presidency, the parliament, the National Legislative Assembly, the Council of States plus the governors and chambers of the 10 states.

Last December, the council of ministers approved a 1.5 billion budget for general elections, but an alliance of 23 political parties says the conduct of elections would be a violation of the transitional constitution and called for the delay.

The transitional constitution stipulates that elections must be held in 2015 so that the new government takes charge in July 9th, 2015 when the term of the current government shall have expired on July 8. Also the fundamental law provides that the term of the president “shall be four years, commencing from July 9, 2011.

Salva Kiir was elected as the president of what was then southern Sudan in April 2010 before the independence as part of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement which the ended the more than two decade conflict with between the north and south.

According to the transitional constitution endorsed after the independence in July 2011, elections are to be held in 2015. However political parties call for postponing the polls after the eruption of the inter-South Sudanese conflict due to the widespread insecurity, political and humanitarian consequences of the conflict.

Last month, Lam Akol Ajawin, the leader of the main opposition Sudan people’s Liberation for democratic change (SPLM-DC) said holding elections in 2015 would contravene some provisions in the constitution and asked for the delay of the election.

Akol said the political parties are not yet registered in accordance with the elections act of 2012. He pointed that the general census is not held as the transitional constitution provides because of the ongoing conflict.

“It also calls for a National Elections Commission to be set up to organise the vote. The current elections commission is still organising and lacks a lot of things. So are elections going to be carried out in violation of the constitution and in violation of the law?” Akol wondered.

Akol suggested that the money approved for the elections should be used to help the hundreds of thousands of South Sudanese affected by this “senseless” conflict .

Opposition parties and activists also call for the postponement of general elections, pointing for the need to reach a political settlement to the one-year conflict and achieve national reconciliation.

A South Sudanese analyst said it is opportune to speak about elections while the United Nations is asking the international community for $1.8 billion for humanitarian response in the country.

“Instead of channelling this money for humanitarian issues, the government is talking about elections. Are we really being serious? Do our leaders care about the plights of our people? Is the legitimacy of the government more important than the lives of the people,” he said.

(ST)