Africa-Press – South-Sudan. Independent candidates interested in representing the country in East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) will now compete with their counterparts sponsored by political parties as the terms of the current members expire in December this year.
The Clerk of the Transitional National Legislature Assembly (R-TNLA) announced on September 10th, 2022, that the election for the East African Legislative Assembly representatives was scheduled to take place in the third week of September.
According to the First Deputy Speaker- R-TNLA, Nathaniel Oyet, the parliament has opened the process for independent candidates.
“We have opened the process for independent candidates and five have apparently applied, and they will compete with the candidates of the parties,” he said.
He said, “It’s an open election; whoever wins gets it.’’
He stated that each political party nominated a candidate, with the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in Opposition (SPLM-IO) nominating two; the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) nominating five candidates; the South Sudan Opposition Alliance (SSOA) nominating one candidate, and other political parties also picking one candidate.
He stated that the nominations are based on the numerical strength that they have in parliament, and that the process may not be final because the nominees are being sent to compete with independent candidates.
He dismissed some claims that political parties have taken everything, arguing that there are five independent candidates who are already campaigning.
The Director of Community Empowerment for Progress Organization (CEPO), Edmond Yakani, revealed that they plan to organise a public debate for South Sudanese candidates who are contesting because there was no effective engagement where citizens were given space to question those who contested in the previous election.
“This year, we are taking the responsibility of organising a public debate, and we want to ensure that those candidates seeking a seat in the East African Parliament respond to our public debate,” he said.
“Our public debate is primarily focused on asking those individuals who may come from the parties that have signed the peace agreement to sell us their manifesto, [to convince us] why our national MPs should vote for them to represent South Sudan in the East African Parliament.”
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