By Matik Kueth
South Sudan’s main opposition movement, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army in Opposition (SPLM/A-IO), has rejected the government’s electoral roadmap and warned that proceeding with elections without a political consensus could push the country back toward conflict.
This follows President Salva Kiir’s Tuesday evening decision to dissolve the Revitalized Transitional Government of National Unity and remove the vice presidents, ministers, and national legislature ahead of elections scheduled for December 22.
In a statement extended to King Media on Wednesday, Regina Joseph Kaba, SPLM/A-IO’s argued that recent changes to the 2018 peace agreement and electoral framework have removed what it considers important safeguards that were supposed to precede elections. Regina and her camp have been in a power wrangle with Nathaniel Oyet Pienrino, the widely recognized deputy SPLM/A-IO chairman and acting Chairman of the party since the arrest of Chairman Dr. Riek Machar. Oyet is yet to respond following the recent political developments with Revitalized Transitional Government of National Unity.
She said it therefore rejects what it described as “the unilateral elections proposed by the regime in Juba,” as well as amendments to the Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan (R-ARCSS).
“These amendments deliberately dismantle critical pre-election prerequisites that were originally established as fundamental safeguards for conducting free, fair, peaceful, inclusive, and transparent democratic elections,” the statement read in part.
The dispute places the December elections at the center of a broader political question: whether South Sudan can move from a peace-agreement-based transitional government to an elected government while one of the agreement’s principal opposition parties disputes the process.
Opposition challenges electoral legitimacy
The SPLM/A-IO said any election held without the agreement of the signatory parties would lack the political consensus required for a credible transition.
“Consequently, any electoral process conducted under this compromised framework, devoid of consensus and the active participation of all signatory parties, is rejected in its totality,” it said.
The group warned that proceeding with the elections under the current arrangements could have security consequences.
“Pushing forward with such an exercise is a direct recipe for returning the country to violence,” it added.
The warning comes as South Sudan enters the final three months before the December 22 poll.
The Reconstituted Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (RJMEC), which oversees implementation of the 2018 peace agreement, said on Tuesday that the country had entered a critical phase of the transition and urged the parties to uphold the R-ARCSS.
The peace agreement’s transitional period was extended by 24 months in 2024, with elections rescheduled for December 2026.
Dispute extends beyond the elections
The SPLM/A-IO also rejected an inter-party political dialogue scheduled for Thursday, September 24, arguing that a process organized under the government’s control cannot provide the neutrality it says is necessary to resolve the country’s political differences.
The opposition described the planned meeting as “a partisan congregation of the regime and its handpicked affiliates” and said it was designed to “rubber-stamp predetermined outcomes.”
“An assembly organized, funded, and hosted exclusively by President Salva Kiir Mayardit’s administration cannot constitute an independent or credible national dialogue,” it stated.
The government, however, has previously presented the inter-party dialogue as part of efforts to address political, constitutional, electoral and security issues ahead of the December elections.
In August, Cabinet Affairs Minister Martin Elia Lomuro said the government would proceed with elections in December while the dialogue continued.
That difference in interpretation points to the central political challenge facing the transition: the government is pushing toward an election timetable, while the SPLM/A-IO is demanding a broader political process before accepting that timetable.
SPLM/A-IO demands new framework
The opposition movement laid out four conditions it says must be met for a political dialogue to become credible.
It renewed demand for the release of SPLM/A-IO leader and First Vice President Dr. Riek Machar and other political detainees; the participation of key political stakeholders, including non-signatories to the peace agreement; relocation of talks to a neutral venue outside Juba; and stronger regional and international mediation.
Kapa called for the involvement of IGAD, the African Union, the Troika and the United Nations.
“True state-building requires engaging political adversaries, not convening echo chambers,” she noted.
SPLM-IO’s demands also reflect the wider dispute over the role of the 2018 peace agreement in determining South Sudan’s political transition.
The government has argued that amendments to the electoral framework are intended to clear obstacles to the December poll, while the opposition said the changes weaken safeguards originally attached to the transition.
President Kiir dissolved the transitional government last night and appointed a caretaker administration as the country moves toward the December elections.
Under the new arrangements, Kiir remains president during the electoral period until a newly elected president assumes office.
The development effectively ends the power-sharing structure established under the 2018 peace agreement and leaves the political parties facing a sharply contested transition.
The SPLM-IO stressed that it remains committed to a peaceful settlement but insisted that any transition must be based on “genuine partnership, mutual respect, and inclusive national consensus.”