An official of the National Elections Commission says there is a need to first conduct housing and population census in the country before general elections.

The Deputy Chairperson of the commission urges stakeholders to quickly set up requirements that will allow for the conduct of elections in 2015.

Jersa Kide Barsaba said the Transitional Constitution guarantees that the census be conducted before elections take place.

She said the elections commission may not be able to use the exact number of voters in the country –without any statistics.

“We met with the census people and they have told us frankly that for them to conduct the census – it needs longer period, more than one year,” Ms Kide stated.

Madam Jersa said representations in some states may be affected without the census results.

She said thousands of people have been displaced by the conflict.

“When you talk of the three states of greater upper Nile, especially in Malakal – if we go for voter registration and we want to use the data for drawing of the geographical contingency, it means that the three states are going to be affected, the geographical constringency which are going to be given them will be less because it depends on the number of population in that particular state.”

The government has insisted that the elections will be conducted next year.

Last week, an official from the United States Institute for Peace says that the ongoing conflict in South Sudan will greatly affect the participation of the citizens and the conduct of peaceful elections.