South Sudan has announced it will hold its long-delayed first general election on December 22, in what would be a major step for the country more than a decade after independence.
While the date has now been set, uncertainty remains over whether the vote will actually take place, given years of missed deadlines, political mistrust and continuing instability.
Since gaining independence from Sudan in 2011, South Sudan has never held a national election. The first planned vote, scheduled for 2015, collapsed after civil war broke out two years earlier, derailing the country’s political transition.
A later effort to restart the process came through a 2018 peace agreement between President Salva Kiir and opposition leader Riek Machar. The deal set a fresh target for elections in 2022, but once again the timeline slipped amid persistent tensions and slow progress on key reforms. As a result, the transition period has dragged on, with limited trust between political factions and continuing insecurity in parts of the country complicating preparations for a vote.
These challenges were acknowledged by electoral officials when they announced the new poll date, pointing to both legal and financial obstacles that still stand in the way of full preparations
“The political will is not ours; it lies with the government,” election commission chief Abednego Akok Kacuol said on Monday, according to the BBC.
The commission chief added that unresolved legal amendments and funding gaps were still affecting progress, suggesting that planning would continue but may need to adjust to a more realistic timeline if support does not materialise.
The political uncertainty is closely tied to continuing tensions between the country’s main rivals. Machar, who remains a key figure in the transitional government arrangement, was removed as vice-president and has faced serious criminal charges, which he denies.
He is currently under house arrest in Juba, while sporadic violence continues in some parts of the country. Machar’s party, the Sudan People's Liberation Movement in Opposition (SPLM-IO), has warned that the environment is not yet suitable for elections. It has also cautioned that campaigning in areas under its control could face resistance.
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