Dr. Riek Machar, First Vice President and Leader of SPLM/A-IO - Courtesy

The First Vice President has broken his silence on the conduct of elections and expressed doubt that there will be no elections without full implementation of security arrangements.

Dr Riek Machar made remarks during the closing of the national economic conference on Saturday, September 9, 2023.

Machar says the critical tasks in the agreement should first be implemented before the country can go for elections.

This includes the deployment of the necessary unified forces, the return of Internally Displaced Persons and refugees, reforms in the security sector, and putting in place a permanent constitution.

The September 2018 peace deal obligates the unity government to hold elections two months before the end of the transitional period to establish a democratically elected government.

In August last year, parties to the revitalized peace agreement extended the transitional period for 24 months.

Dr. Riek says the implementation of the roadmap the security arrangements are lagging behind.

“Security is paramount, even if you want to hold elections, can you hold elections under the current situation? Who will protect the ballot boxes, you have to handle the issue of security first,” Dr Machar  said.

“The refugees will come back, and the IDPs will go to their homes. According to the roadmap, elections should be [held] on December 22, 2024, do we all need to vote with a gun on your [our] head? Solve the issue of security.” he said.

“The constitution is a very important element in conducting elections, without security there is no election, without refugees coming back there is no election. Forming one army is a reform, forming one police force is a reform, forming all the security units is a reform.”

In July this year, President Salva Kiir told his SPLM party members and supporters to work and ensure there is no extension of the transitional period next year.

He made the remarks while addressing thousands of SPLM members and supporters in the Greater Bahr el Ghazal region in Wau Town on July 4, 2023.

Kiir reiterated that the transitional period will not be extended saying, the SPLM will work with the other parties to ensure the permanent constitution is made to pave for the elections.

The 2018 peace accord also obligates the unity government to reconstitute a competent and independent National Elections Commission to conduct free, fair, and credible elections before the end of the transitional period.

It stipulates that the outcome of the election should reflect the will of the electorate.

South Sudan has never held a general election since independence in 2011.

The first general elections were scheduled to take place on the 9^th of July 2015.

However, the country descended into years of civil war, prompting the parliament to extend the presidential term until July 2018.