Image source: Reuters
On Saturday, South Sudan postponed the first elections in the country's history since its independence, to February 2027, amid escalating violence and political conflicts between the country's president and his vice president.
The process of registering the names of voters to participate in the vote has only just begun, while the elections were scheduled to be held on December 22nd, after years of postponements.
The Election Commission announced a new timetable via social media on Saturday, setting February 11 as the new date for the electoral process, with the results to be announced four days later.
The Secretary-General of the Commission, Ahun Malu Lueth, confirmed to the French Press Agency the decision to postpone, without explaining the reason for the decision or providing other details.
These elections were scheduled to be held in December 2024, but President Salva Kiir, who has been in power since the country's independence, postponed them for two years.
The United Nations Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan recently warned that holding elections without basic guarantees and in the absence of a real and comprehensive political dialogue could lead to renewed conflict and increase the risk of committing atrocities and major crimes.
The Committee reiterated the need for holding elections to be accompanied by creating the necessary conditions to ensure effective political participation, respect for basic freedoms, protection of civilians, and strengthening confidence in the electoral process.
The UN committee considered that holding elections in December could spark a widespread conflict if they were used to dismantle the political settlement agreed upon in 2018 to prevent the outbreak of another war.
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“The negotiated settlement has been removed under the guise of elections,” committee chair Yasmine Sooka said in October.
She added: “This amounts to a constitutional coup under the guise of legislative reforms: the unilateral dismantling of the comprehensive power-sharing settlement and the concentration of all powers in the hands of the president.”
The 2018 peace agreement that ended the war led to the formation of a national unity government in which Salva Kiir holds the position of president, while Riek Machar holds the position of his deputy.
But Machar was suspended from work by presidential decree issued in September 2025 and charged with treason and murder.
Voter registration difficulties
With voter registration far from complete, the December voting schedule also presented significant logistical challenges.
According to the World Bank, about 90 percent of the country's population of approximately 15 million people do not have state-recognized identities, which increases the complexity of the process.
The announcement of the new date for the elections came on the same day that the voter registration process was scheduled to begin, with more than 3,100 centers being prepared across the country, while officials said that some of the necessary equipment had not yet arrived at the centers.
Under the new schedule published by the Election Commission on social media, registration was scheduled to begin on Saturday.
Bloody confrontations
Image source: AFP
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The government forces of President Salva Kiir on the one hand, and supporters of former Vice President Riek Machar on the other hand, have been engaged in escalating bloody confrontations since Machar's arrest in 2025.
Other ethnic tensions and conflicts linked to cattle rustling have also complicated the situation in one of the world's poorest countries.
No sooner had South Sudan gained its independence from Sudan in 2011, than the forces of Kiir and Machar began a civil war that lasted between 2013 and 2018 and resulted in the deaths of at least 400,000 people.
Machar has been under house arrest since March 2025. He faces charges of committing "crimes against humanity."
The unity government between Kiir and Machar was tasked with creating the necessary conditions to hold elections in 2022, but these elections were repeatedly postponed, while the government did not actually implement any of the provisions of the peace agreement.
However, the announcement of this latest postponement was met with angry reactions from some activists.
Agence France-Presse quoted human rights activist Malong Deng as saying: “There are no elections in South Sudan, as I was telling you. The government is trying to remain in power by all means.”
The United Nations committee has repeatedly warned of the deteriorating conditions in South Sudan, including the displacement of tens of thousands of people, amid bloody battles, and the disruption of international humanitarian operations.
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