A cabinet meeting. | Credit | Courtesy

The Council of Ministers, in its extraordinary meeting held on Saturday noon, endorsed the presidency’s decision to postpone elections and extend the transitional period until December 2026.

Cabinet Minister Dr. Martin Elia Lomuro presented a memo to the meeting highlighting the necessity of the decision after which the ministers overwhelmingly voted to endorse it, according to Deputy Information Minister Dr. Jacob Maiju Korok.

The endorsement comes a day after President and his five vice presidents reached consensus to delay the long-awaited democratic exercise following consultation with electoral and security sector institutions.

Deputy Minister Korok said the transitional government is not in hurry to hold elections when there are critical peace provisions that are yet to be implemented in order to pave way for credible elections.

“The presidency and the political parties agreed the postponement of the elections set for 22nd December 2024,” he said, speaking to reporters.

“Based on this postponement, the election is reset to 22nd December 2026. This initiative is initiated by high level committee and it is now endorsed by council of ministers.”

Korok said the memo will also be tabled at the meeting of peace-monitoring body R-JMEC on Tuesday for passing before it is sent to parliament for final deliberations.

On Friday evening, Presidential Adviser on National Security, Hon. Tut Gatluak, told reporters that the extension is an opportunity to implement the critical remaining protocols in R-ARCSS, such as the permanent constitution process, the census, and the registration of political parties.

The Presidency also emphasized that the remaining five months of the current transitional period will be utilized to mobilize funds, aimed at the effective implementation of the revitalized peace agreement.

Meanwhile, a researcher said the last-ditch attempt to save the unity government from descending into legitimacy crisis now faces serious legal hurdles due to limited time for it to be endorsed by parliament before 22nd September deadline.

Dr. Luka Biong Deng, the Managing Director of the Sudd Institute, said the government may have no choice but to rush endorsement of such a complex decision without enough time to follow due legal procedures, simply because any proposed constitutional amendment must be introduced in parliament one month before deliberations on its amendment.