South Sudan postpones elections, extends the term of the transitional government for two years
South Sudan has postponed its long-awaited elections until December 2026, due to the weakness of the peace process in the youngest country in the world.
The office of President Salva Kiir has published a statement on social networks and said that the elections scheduled for December 2024 will now take place on December 22, 2026. Accordingly, the transition period agreed under the 2018 peace agreement has now been extended for another two years.
The President's Adviser on National Security, Tut Gatluak, has said that postponing the election will provide an opportunity to implement the remaining important protocols in the peace agreement, such as the permanent process of the Constitution, the census and the registration of political parties.
Cabinet Affairs Minister Martin Elia Lomuro has said the term of the national unity government has been extended in response to suggestions from electoral institutions and the security sector. He has assured the South Sudanese that the government will continue to work in the extended period.
About 400,000 people lost their lives, and millions were displaced in the civil war between the rival forces of President Kiir and Vice President Riek Machar between 2013 and 2018, before a peace deal that led to the creation of a unity government and the promise of election.
