Gov’t ‘not yet sure’ if elections are to take place in 2023

JUBA — South Sudan government has said that it is not yet sure if elections slate for end of the transitional government are to take place in 2023, according to a senior government official.

Based on the revitalized peace agreement, South Sudan parties are to conduct competitive elections for South Sudanese people to elect new leaders.

That election is slated for end of the transitional period which is to end in 2023, but several pre-transitional and transitional tasks necessary for conduct of elections such as the security arrangements are still pending.

President Salva Kiir Mayardit has, for several times this year, been speaking of elections taking place in 2023.

But speaking at a round table discussion conducted by journalist Mading Ngor in Juba last week, information minister Michael Makuei Lueth said there are a lot of tasks that are yet to be implemented including the census, passing of elections law and political parties act which he said are necessary for conduct of elections.

“There are a lot of questions that still need to be answered. One of them is the census, we haven’t conducted the census yet, the parliament hasn’t yet passed the political parties law, the election law, all these are questions not yet answered to determine if elections are going to happen in 2023,” Makuei said.

“So, the government is not yet sure if the elections are to take place in 2023,” he added.

For her part, South Sudan’s defense minister and senior member of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in Opposition (SPLM-IO) Angelina Teny acknowledged that “a lot of things have been achieved in the chapter one of the agreement and the chapter two is not being implemented as it should.”