Africa-Press – South-Sudan. By James Atem Kuir
The leader of New Cush Party (NCP), Knight Scopas Kamonde has suggested that the general elections tentatively slated for 2023be conducted in three phases to avoid a post-election crisis.
According to the Revitalized Peace Agreement (RPA), the signatory parties implementing the pact, should conduct polls at the end of the transitional period should debate about the election timeline as the topic continued to heat up by the day.
This is due to the fact that several crucial tasks including the Transitional Security Arrangements which provided for the unification of forces of the parties and Constitution-making, had been delayed remained unaccomplished to date.
Mamonde in his recent article titled:‘CrucialGateways for Upcoming General Elections in 2023’, said next year’s polls should be conducted in three phases beginning with the presidential elections early next year.
“Although our first general elections are expected to take place by next year, up to now there is nothing clear or reliable regarding the issue,” he said.
“It is advisable for us to conduct the upcoming general elections in three phases. Phase one: should be the Presidential Elections which can takeplace from 2/1/2023 to 3/1/2023 or from 2/1/2023 to 4/1/2023 and the final results can be declared on 9/1/2023,” MrKamonde explained.
He went on to suggest the election of governors, national and state legislators, be carried out in the second stage of the polls in 2024.
Kamonde said the third phase of the national polls would be for the election of officials at the local government levels such as the county commissioners, Countycouncils’ members, mayors, quarter councils’ leaders in 2025.
“Concerning the refugees and the internally displaced persons,” the official said, “it is very essential to include them, so; either they should vote from where they are or the UN Agencies should establish temporary camps or centers inside the borders of South Sudan with; the Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia and Sudan for the registration of voters as well as for voting.”
First general elections were scheduled to be held by 9 July 2015 following the independence of South Sudan in 2011, but the exercise did not come to pass as civil war erupted in 2013.
Consequently, the transitional national legislature voted in April 2015 to amend the transitional 2011 constitution to extend the presidential and parliamentary term until 9 July 2018, with 264 members in favour and a handful opposing it.
The polls were once again postponed again to 2021 in July 2018following the peace agreement that ended the civil war, and established a transitional period of three years, which is to be followed by elections in 2023.
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