General elections are due to be held in South Sudan on 22 December 2026, the first since independence.
Initially scheduled to be held by 9 July 2015,[1][2] in light of an alleged coup d'état attempt and continuing conflict in the country this was thrown into doubt, especially since no permanent constitution had been formulated. The South Sudan parliament voted in April 2015 to amend the country's transitional 2011 constitution to extend the presidential and parliamentary term until 9 July 2018, with 264 members in favour and a handful opposing it.[3] It was postponed again to 2021 in July 2018.[4] Following the peace agreement that ended the civil war, a transitional period of three years was agreed on, which would be followed by elections in 2023.[5] In 2022, the transitional government and opposition agreed to move it to late 2024.[6][7] In September 2024, the government ordered the elections to be postponed until 22 December 2026, citing the need to complete institutional processes such the creation of a census and a permanent constitution and the registration of political parties.[8]
Background
Following the independence of South Sudan, Riek Machar was inaugurated as the first vice president to PresidentSalva Kiir. In July 2013, the entire cabinet, including Machar, was dismissed by Kiir on the ostensible reason to decrease the size of government. However, Machar said that this was a step towards dictatorship on the part of Kiir and that he would seek to challenge Kiir for the presidency.[9] In December 2013 a related coup d'état was put down. While civil war ensued, at the end of September 2014 an Intergovernmental Authority on Development-mediated resolution was agreed upon that would lead to the federalisation of the country's governance.
The transitional constitution required the election to be held by 9 July 2015, the date on which the first post-independence presidential term ends.[1] Kiir told the Warrap parliament that a lack of funds to conduct a census and complete the new constitution could result in a delay of the election. This caused doubts as to Kiir's intention to merely hold on to power and was coupled with the dismissal of the Governor of UnityTaban Deng Gai on allegation that he would back Machar in replacing Kiir as the SPLM chairperson and therefore the party’s candidate for the election, though Gai denied this.[1] Since the coup, John Garang's son also mentioned that as the constitutional convention could not write a permanent constitution of South Sudan, the scheduled 2015 date for the election would not be met.[10]
Additionally, the U.S. envoy for Sudan and South Sudan, Donald Booth, held talks with the chairperson of the National Elections Commission, Abednego Akok Kacuol, and the chairperson of the National Bureau of Statistics, Isaiah Chol Aruai, in order to call for sticking to the allotted date and the provision of funds to complete the necessary prerequisites.[2]
The South Sudan parliament voted in April 2015 to amend the country's transitional 2011 constitution to extend the presidential and parliamentary term until 9 July 2018.[3]
Electoral system
The President of South Sudan is elected via the two-round system. If no candidate obtains over half of valid votes cast, another round must be held within 60 days between the two candidates that obtained the most votes. To be eligible for election, a candidate must be a South Sudanese citizen by birth, be "of sound mind", be 40 years of age or older, be literate, and not have been convicted of a criminal offence involving "fraud, dishonesty, or moral turpitude". They must also obtain signatures from 10,000 voters across at least seven states, with at least 200 voters from each state. The same applies for the election of Governors, except only 5,000 voters from at least half of that state's counties (with at least 100 voters from each county) are required.
47 elected via closed-list proportional representation using the divisor method at a national level
17 appointed by the elected President.
As such, each voter will be given three ballots (one for their constituency, one of women's party lists, and one of general party lists). To be eligible for proportional representation seats, a list must obtain at least 4% of valid votes.
The members of the Council of States are indirectly elected, with each state's legislative assembly appointing five members and each administrative area's legislative council appointing two members.
State legislative assemblies are elected in a similar manner to the National Legislative Assembly, without any appointed seats:
50% of seats are elected in single-member constituencies via first-past-the-post voting
35% of seats are elected via closed-list proportional representation using the divisor method from women-only lists at a state level
15% of seats are elected via closed-list proportional representation using the divisor method at a state level.
Each candidate (in the case of single-member elections) and party (in the case of party-list elections) is allocated their own electoral symbol, and independent candidates are allowed to stand as long as they have not been a member of a political party for at least three months prior to the election.[11][12]
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