CEPO Director Edmund Yakani | Photo: Awan Moses/Eye Radio

Civil society groups have expressed concern over South Sudan’s preparedness for the planned December 2026 general elections during a meeting with a visiting African Union (AU) ministerial delegation in Juba.

The meeting brought together representatives of civil society organizations, youth, women, religious leaders, the media and academia with the AU C5 Council of Ministers delegation led by South Africa.

Speaking after the meeting, the Executive Director of the Community Empowerment for Progress Organization (CEPO), Edmund Yakani, said the stakeholders informed the AU delegation that several challenges continue to undermine preparations for the polls.

According to Yakani, the concerns include insecurity, inadequate funding for the National Elections Commission and ambiguities in the country’s legal framework governing the elections.

“We shared our views on the country’s preparation for the elections, which is facing numerous challenges ranging from insecurity and inadequate funding for the National Elections Commission to ambiguities in the legal framework that require clarity,” Yakani said.

He said the stakeholders also stressed that any election must meet the standards of being free and fair under the Revitalized Peace Agreement.

“We discussed the way forward and agreed that there is a need for an inclusive political dialogue as prescribed in the resolutions of the AU C5 Summit. That is very important,” he added.

Yakani further said the stakeholders are advocating for a constitutional dialogue to address the root causes of South Sudan’s recurring political instability.

According to him, the AU delegation acknowledged the concerns raised during the meeting and said it would issue an official statement after reporting back to the African Union headquarters in Addis Ababa.

The AU delegation is in South Sudan as part of regional efforts to assess the implementation of the peace agreement and the country’s readiness for the scheduled December 2026 elections.