Arabic version: مصداقية انتخابات جنوب السودان تواجه شكوكاً جديدة
According to Allafrica, credible elections are no longer possible in South Sudan within the time remaining before the planned December 2026 vote, while preserving the 2018 peace agreement should become the priority. The assessment follows cabinet approval of legal amendments for the election and a 10 September finding by the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan that key safeguards and conditions for peaceful, credible polls were lacking.
South Sudan has not held national elections since independence in 2011. Its first scheduled polls, due in 2015, were delayed after civil war began in 2013, and elections have since been postponed five times. The current transitional government is founded on the 2018 Revitalised Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan, which ended a previous phase of conflict.
The analysis says President Salva Kiir Mayardit has weakened the agreement’s power-sharing arrangements through cabinet dismissals, replacement of opposition lawmakers and delays to security-sector reforms. First Vice-President Riek Machar has been under house arrest since March 2025 and faces treason charges alongside several associates. His SPLM/A-IO wing says elections must follow the peace agreement and include all its parties.
Practical barriers also remain. The National Elections Commission is underfunded, there is no voter register, and insecurity limits electoral access and citizens’ movement. More than 2.5 million people are internally displaced and over 10 million require assistance. The article warns that proceeding with non-credible polls could deepen instability, while another extension without consensus could also undermine the 2018 agreement.
The authors call for international actors to support a consensual extension with a clear, time-bound roadmap to elections. They also urge continued pressure for Machar’s release, efforts to prevent further unilateral changes to the agreement, and common minimum conditions for any future vote.
