By Jenifer James
The executive director of CEPO, Edmund Yakani, has responded to the president’s recent statement about the election scheduled for December 2026, following the two-year extension of the transitional period. The President’s remarks were directed at political parties, urging them to publicly declare their position on the proposed election timeline.
In a statement, the Executive Director of CEPO expressed that civil society welcomes the decision of the President’s transparency about the election process.
‘’As a civil society, we welcome the statement of the president for being open with regard to the ease of the election because last year we saw total silence of the political leadership on the fate of the election. At least this year, the political leadership has started speaking about the elections early enough and would like to appeal to His Excellency President that we need to see an urgent meeting of the presidency on the faith of the election,’’ Yakani said.
Yakani outlined critical decisions that need to be made, including whether to delink elections from the population census or have elections tied to it, as well as whether the constitutional-making process should happen first before elections, or the elections should proceed first.
Last year, the government of South Sudan extended the planned election to 2026 due to pending tasks in the 2018 peace agreement.