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

Civil society activist Edmond Yakani has called on the reconstituted Political Party’s council to disseminate the registration criteria for political parties to kickstart the process. 

On Monday, President Salva Kiir witnessed the taking of the oath by Engineer James Akol as the Political Parties’ Council Chairperson.

Edmond Yakani who is the Executive Director of Community Empowerment for Progress organization says the council should modify the rules and regulations including the eligibility criteria that the parties need to adhere to before registering.

“The political Council needs to disseminate the criteria for registration of political parties so that political parties will have that number two, the political parties need to develop what they already have and modify it,” said Yakani.

“The third thing is that the political party’s council needs to create an orientation for political parties so that the political parties will now go and prepare themselves to meet the rules and regulations of the political party’s council in terms of registration and then the critical or eligibility for registration in order to bide as a political party,” he said.

Mr. Edmond Yakani also calls on the political party’s council to ensure the registration of political parties is transparent and inclusive.

“I think the registration of political parties should not be in any discriminative manner that means the political party’s council need to open the process for registering political parties openly and they should even go online,” Yakani said.

“Our South Sudanese who have the political establishment in the diaspora can register it legally as a political party and they can come back to the country to contest or they can contest if we have positions of electoral at diaspora level where they can vote,” he said.

“We can have some of the diasporas coming back to join the government through elections. So there is a need also to open up an electronic system where the political party council can be reached out by our colleagues who are outside.”

Early this month, President Salva Kiir reconstituted the Political Parties Council and the National Elections Commission as outlined in the 2018 peace deal which is a prerequisite to the conduct of free, fair and credible polls next year.

According to the 2018 pact, the President, in consultation with the Parties, and with the approval of the parliament, shall reconstitute a competent and impartial National Elections Commission to conduct elections, no later than twelve months after the commencement of the Transitional Period.