Delay, Delay

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A group of South Sudanese lawyers filed a petition at the country’s top court challenging the government’s decision to postpone elections and extend the rule of the transitional government for two years, a move that had already drawn rebuke from the country’s donors, Reuters reported.

Nearly two weeks ago, President Salva Kiir’s administration announced the extension of the transitional period by two years and delayed elections – originally scheduled for December – to 2026.

This was the second time polls were postponed – the first was in 2022.

The government said the decision will allow the implementation of “critical remaining protocols” agreed to under a 2018 peace accord to end a civil war in the young East African nation. These include the drafting of a constitution to replace the current transitional charter and registration of political parties, Bloomberg added.

But on Monday, five lawyers asked South Sudan’s supreme court to declare the move as “null and void,” countering that it was unconstitutional.

“This extension is unconstitutional and is illegal and we are demanding our government to conduct elections within the time frame,” said Deng John Deng, one of the petitioners.

Kiir’s decision to delay the vote drew criticism from South Sudan’s international donors, who said the government is not fully implementing the 2018 peace deal.

The country has been at peace since the 2018 agreement ended a five-year conflict that killed hundreds of thousands of people. Even so, violence between rival communities is not uncommon and United Nations officials warned earlier this year of potential unrest if the election process is mismanaged.