JUBA/ACCRA, Nov. 14 – South Sudan has again postponed its first national elections since independence in 2011, moving the presidential and parliamentary polls from December 22 to February 11, 2027.
The new date is contained in a revised timetable published on Saturday by the National Elections Commission (NEC), AP reported. The commission said the postponement was intended to give more time for preparations, including the distribution of voter registration materials, setting up registration centres, voter registration and logistics, according to Reuters.
“This is the timeline we have come up with after a thorough consultation with the stakeholders,” NEC commissioner and spokesperson Josephine Achiro Fortelo told Reuters.
Repeated delays
The world’s youngest country has delayed the vote at least three times since 2022 was first set as its election year, Al Jazeera reported. South Sudan continues to grapple with violence despite a 2018 peace deal that ended five years of civil war, and the United Nations had warned that a vote could set off widespread conflict.
In September, President Salva Kiir dissolved the transitional unity government and appointed a caretaker administration.
The new timetable
Under the revised calendar, voter registration runs from November 14 to November 28, Radio Tamazuj reported. A 45-day campaign period will run from December 27 to February 9, with February 10 set aside as a campaign-free day. Final results are scheduled to be declared on February 15, and any run-off would be held on April 12.
NEC chairman Gabriel Bol Deng said 3,161 registration centres had been set up across the country, with more than 22,000 staff recruited, according to Al Jazeera. Officials said not all the necessary equipment had arrived at the centres, AFP reported.
Radio Tamazuj noted that the National Elections Act, as amended in 2026, refers to elections in December 2026, raising questions about whether the new date could face a legal challenge.
Why it matters for Ghana
Ghana has a battalion serving with the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), deployed in Unity State, according to the Ghana Armed Forces, so a peaceful vote matters for Ghanaian peacekeepers on the ground. Stability in the country is also central to the African Union’s wider peace and security agenda.
Source: AP; Reuters; Al Jazeera; Radio Tamazuj; AFP via The Hindu.
Featured image: Oye News GH graphic.
