South Sudan has amended its election law, removing requirements for a permanent constitution and national census to be completed before general elections scheduled for December 22.
President Salva Kiir signed the amendments late Monday after Parliament approved the bill earlier the same day. The changes were intended to pave the way for the country’s first general elections since independence in 2011.
The South Sudan Opposition Alliance, a coalition of opposition parties and signatory to the 2018 peace agreement, rejected the amendments, saying they were made without adequate consultation among the agreement’s parties.
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Presidential Affairs Minister Africano Mande Gedima said the changes were designed to align the National Elections Act of 2012 with the transitional constitution and remove provisions linking elections to the completion of a permanent constitution and national census.
Under the amended law, the incumbent executive leadership will remain in office with full constitutional powers until a newly elected president assumes office.
The law also provides for the first vice president and other vice presidents to leave office within three months before election day.
The amendments reduce the National Legislative Assembly from 650 to 270 members, while state assemblies will have 58 members, down from 100. Legislative councils in administrative areas will have 20 members.
The changes came as South Sudan entered a critical phase of election preparations, although voter registration had yet to begin.
Kiir’s longtime rival and leader of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in Opposition, Riek Machar, has been under house arrest since March 2025 and is facing trial on charges including treason and murder, which he denies.
Last week, Kiir replaced the chairperson of the National Elections Commission without giving a public reason. Abednego Akok Kacuol was replaced by Gabriel Bol Deng Majok, the commission’s former secretary general, three months before the scheduled elections.
Edmund Yakani, Executive Director of the Community Empowerment for Progress Organisation, urged political leaders to resolve their differences peacefully.
South Sudan’s transitional period was established under a 2018 peace agreement following years of conflict, with election preparations repeatedly delayed over slow progress on key issues, including drafting a permanent constitution and conducting a national census.
Reuters
