Oct 21, 2020(Nyamilepedia) — South Sudan’s Minister of Cabinet Affairs, Hon. Martin Elia Lomuro, says elections will be conducted at the end of the interim period as per the agreement.
The elections were expected to be done at the end of transitional period if the peace agreement signed in 2018 comes to successful completion; however, the parties are yet to implement any vital article of the peace deal.
Within the last two years the peace partners, who are mostly sitting in the capital Juba, did not graduate the VIP protection, unified forces and formation of states and local governments remain to be seen.
It has been nine years since South Sudan got its independence but elections have never been held.
South Sudan has been suffering from conflict and since then making it hard for the country to hold elections.
Peter Biar Ajak, an economist and also the chairman of the South Sudan Young Leaders Forum had said in an opinion piece that any hope for a better future for South Sudan lies with finding a rapid path to credible elections, which will finally allow the South Sudanese people to vote for leaders of their choice.
According to Peter Biar, elections will be the only way to rebuild South Sudan and restore enduring peace, development and human rights for all its people.
In late September, the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General, David Shearer, said that fresh life and momentum needs to be urgently breathed into the peace process so that elections are not delayed.
“The peace agreement is limping along. My concern about the delay is that it risks pushing elections out well beyond the timeline in the agreement,” says David Shearer. “
The 2018 peace deal which in February resulted in the formation of the Revitalized Transitional Government of National Unity (R-TGONU) provides for elections after a 36-month transitional period ending in May 2022.
On Monday, Cabinet Minister Lomuro said partners are putting in efforts to implement some of the remaining provisions leading to the elections.
The minister added that the peace agreement is generally holding despite some pockets of insecurity in some parts of the country.
