Bol Makueng, the SPLM Secretary for External Affairs - credit | Suzie Anyuat/Eye Radio | March 31, 2022

WAU, Western Bahr El-ghazal (Eye Radio) — The SPLM has reiterated its commitment to holding general elections in December 2026, confirming it will partner with the SPLM-IO to ensure the polls are not derailed by ongoing processes such as the drafting of a permanent constitution.

Speaking at a reception for newly appointed Western Bahr el Ghazal Governor Sherif Dabiel in Wau, SPLM Secretary for Political Affairs Bol Makueng emphasized that both the SPLM and SPLM-IO are ready to work together to ensure the elections proceed as scheduled.

“We are going for elections and we want to join hands [with IO] to see to it that there are no obstacles which we must pass so that we are not caught up with another extension again for elections,” Makueng said.

He warned against further delays, citing the extended timelines for key processes.

“The making of a constitution… will finish by about October 2027, and we are going for elections in December 2026… Population census will finish… in fact earlier 2028, unless we are saying we are going to conduct elections in 2028.”

Makueng noted that the people of South Sudan are “tired of seeing the same faces in leadership” and are eager to elect their own leaders.

South Sudan has not held a general election since gaining independence in 2011.

The first polls, initially scheduled for 2015, were postponed due to the civil war, and Parliament has since extended the presidential term multiple times.