South Sudan Postpones Its First-Ever National Elections Again, to February

South Sudan has again delayed its first-ever presidential and parliamentary elections. The country’s election commission announced on Saturday that the polls will be held on February 11 next year, instead of December 22 this year. It gave no reason for the decision.

The vote was first expected in 2022. It has since been delayed at least three times in the world’s youngest country, which continues to grapple with violence despite a 2018 peace deal that ended five years of civil war.

In September, President Salva Kiir dissolved the transitional unity government and appointed a caretaker administration. That step allowed the country to move towards elections without first completing a permanent constitution or a census, two processes that were previously tied to the transition.

But analysts and watchdogs warned that the move dismantled a key power-sharing arrangement, consolidating power in Kiir’s hands and raising the risk of renewed widespread conflict.

Yasmin Sooka, chair of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan, described the step in October as a “constitutional coup through legislative reforms”. She added that whether elections take place or not, South Sudan will still need an inclusive political settlement, protection for civilians and institutions capable of preventing further violence.

In recent months, Kiir’s government forces and followers of detained former Vice President Riek Machar have been involved in escalating, deadly confrontations. Other ethnic tensions and cattle-rustling battles have also complicated the picture in one of the world’s poorest countries.

South Sudan became independent from Sudan in 2011, but a civil war between Kiir’s and Machar’s forces from 2013 to 2018 killed at least 400,000 people. Machar has been under house arrest since last March, accused of crimes against humanity.

Under the new election timetable, voter registration is due to begin on Saturday, November 14 and continue until November 28. A 45-day election campaign period will run from December 27 to February 9, followed by a one-day silence period before the February 11 poll.

Gabriel Bol Deng, chairman of the National Elections Commission, said a total of 3,161 registration centres have been set up across the country, with more than 22,000 staff recruited for the operation.

Registration faces a major problem, however: according to the World Bank, about 90 percent of South Sudan’s 15 million inhabitants have no state-recognised identification, complicating their registration. Deng said such people, particularly in rural areas, will be identified by community leaders and issued an “identification form” enabling them to vote.