Profile Photo: Newly appointed members of the National parliament and Council of States take oath on Monday, August 2, 2021 at Freedom Hall in Juba. Credit| George Tandele/Eye Radio

The national transitional parliament has passed a bill that some opponents think is meant to pin down minority parties ahead of the planned elections.

The act covers seven provisions which include establishment political parties, their registration as well as financial allocation to them for their development and growth, among others.

The Speaker of the N-TNLA read out content of the act before endorsement. “We passed it in totality, thank you very much,[honorable members of parliament.”

The bill was passed despite reservations by some opposition party members on the modalities to provide financing to the political parties and the conditions for a party to be legally registered.

The act stipulates that for a political party to be registered, it must have at least five hundred members from each of the ten states.

“So, if the purpose of this bill is to ensure that political parties are to be regulated, then the question of putting numbers in order to ban political parties or small parities from registering, it should be out, ” said Peter Lomude Francis who hails from the South Sudan Opposition Alliance ticket.

And that a party will be allocated a budget based on the outcome of a general election.

“”Now, there is a contradiction here that I would like to say, if you look at regulation 36 on how this money is to be distributed,the purpose of the fund is to ensure that political parties are able to compete equally.”

But Lomude said “this is contradicting regulation 37th which says that the purpose of the fund is also to support parties in the process of elections. So, giving support to parties should not be tied with the outcome of the election.”