JUBA, South Sudan — Former Chairperson of South Sudan’s National Elections Commission, Professor Abednego Akok Kacuol, says he is grateful for his removal from the position.

Kacuol spoke to Eye Radio on Wednesday evening, a day after President Salva Kiir Mayardit removed him as chairperson of the electoral body.

He said he learned about the decision through a phone call and thanked both God and the president for the development.

“I thank God very much that I was relieved yesterday. it was somebody who called me at about 8.30pm and gave me the information that he had been removed. I said thank God very much for that. And I thank the president for that good work he has done.

“I am a South Sudanese. Sometimes it is rare to call a person a constitutional holder. Sometimes they are called, but sometimes they are not called. The president has the power to relieve. You are the time you feel like.”

Kacuol had served as Chairperson of the NEC since his first appointment in August 2012. He was reappointed in November 2023 when the commission was reconstituted under the 2018 peace agreement.

Born in 1955 in Mapagic village, Yirol, Lakes State, Kacuol is an academic and public administrator.

He holds a PhD in Public Administration from the University of Khartoum, which he obtained in 2003. He began teaching at the University of Juba in 1993 and became Dean of Student Affairs in 1997.

Between 2000 and 2006, he served as Director of the Centre for Peace and Development Studies at the University of Juba. He also held other positions in education and public service, including UNESCO Chairperson for Peace and Deputy Chairperson of the University of Juba.

President Kiir has appointed Gabriel Bol Deng Majok, who previously served as NEC Secretary-General, to replace Kacuol as chairperson.

The leadership change comes three months before South Sudan’s scheduled general elections on December 22, 2026.

Deng takes over the electoral commission as it continues preparations for the scheduled elections, including voter registration, civic education and other electoral activities.