Jenifer James
Africa-Press – South-Sudan. The National Bureau of Statistics will have to decide whether a census will be held before elections or an alternative data source will be used for boundary delimitation.
Speaking on Friday during the closure of the consultative meeting with the members of the committee, the Chief of Population and Social Statistics at the bureau, Mark Otuari, said the body has come up with three options that it would like the government to choose from ahead of the election.
“Should the census be held before elections or an alternative data source be used for boundary delimitation?” he posed.
“If the decision is to hold elections that do not require boundary delimitation, then this question is not relevant, but NEC and NBS will collaborate on population data for planning purposes,” he added.
Oturia said a new census would take the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) more time—approximately 16–20 months to conduct.
“If a census is supposed to take place and we are supposed to conduct it, then we need at least a period of about 16 to 20 months, so it is purely the government to tell us whether to go for that or not.”
According to Oturia, the second option is whether the election will be based on the Sudanese population and the housing census 2008 projection population census.
He said the body is ready to produce the relevant data needed on time if the resources are available.
He said, “If we (NBS) are supposed to use that projection, we are ready to produce the population based on that census so that the government can also use it, but now we have a problem. Of course, we also need the resources to achieve that.”
Oturia said the NBS and NEC will collaborate to come up with the proper data.
South Sudan is to go for the election in December 2024 and a national population census is required for the process.
Source: The City Review South Sudan
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