Eng. James Akol, the Chairperson of the Political Parties’ Council during Dawn show on Tuesday Dec. 19, 2023 - Moses Awan/Eye Radio

The Political Party Council warns registered parties of potential deregistration for non-compliance with regulations, including failure to meet the 35% women quota and lack of state offices.

Chairperson Hon. Eng James Akol Zakayo emphasized the Council’s commitment to verifying compliance with party mandates, warning that any breach would result in the withdrawal of party certification.

Eng Akol urged political parties to prioritize adherence to the law and emphasized the importance of achieving 35% women representation in their operations.

“Akol said, “Some of you may go and sleep thinking that you received a certificate not meeting the requirement, the same certificate we have issued you we shall withdraw it back according to the law.”

“If compliance and procedures are not in place we shall deregister you. We shall go to the state and verify all the information you have given us, should there be a breach, then we shall all reflect on the law and say what the law says about that.”

“There will be no room for excuses that I don’t know this and that, go and read the laws,” he added.

“We want to see that 35% of women’s representation is captured within your organization structure,” he said.

“We will not tolerate any gross misconduct. We want you to exercise democracy, we want you to take this country out of its current path and it is through you that the democracy can be realized,” he concluded.

In his remarks, Hon. Anthony Agiem Akut, Chairman of the Republican Party of South Sudan, praises the mandates of the council.

He vows that registered parties will fairly represent South Sudanese without fail

“The PPC has done its utmost best to give us the mandate and to give us souls of what we called politics because most of the people who were in the parliament cannot talk much because they were selected, they were handpicked,” said Anthony.

“Today, we are not handpicked anymore we are going to be representative of the people, once you go and fail the people will take back their mandate,” he said.

“Now, we are going to talk on behalf of our people about what is causing their problems and how to resolve these problems and also bring peace. We must be united first and go down for development,” he concluded.

Hon. Mater Mayinde Riak, Chairman of the National Justice Movement Party, urged parties to embrace democracy and refrain from voilence.

“We want democracy, we don’t want the party to have a gun, guns should be in the army to defend South Sudan but we political parties we exercise democracy,” Hon Mater.

In early July, the South Sudan Political Party Council announced the registration of 14 political parties under its mandate and certified an additional 15 parties on Monday, July 15, 2024.

The newly registered political parties include the United Democratic Party (UDP), Federal Democratic Party, United Democratic Front (UDF), Communist Party of South Sudan, Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), South Sudan Africa Union (SSUNA), Generation Party, and South Sudan National Party (SSNP).

Others include the National Democratic Front (NDF), the Republican Party of South Sudan, the Popular Congress, the South Sudan Generation Party, the Akut Bam Party, the South Sudan National Labour Party, and the National Justice Party.

The Political Party Council has now registered a total of 44 political parties in the country.