South Sudan's English Daily Newspaper
"We Dare where others fear"
By Awan Achiek
The opposition Democratic Change Party led by Onyoti Adigo Nyikuac on Thursday announced its readiness to participate in the upcoming general elections scheduled for December 2024.
“The Democratic Change Party is for peace, unity and democratic transformation of the country, we call upon all political parties and the people of South Sudan to accept going for elections,” Adigo said at a press conference held to mark the 15th anniversary of the party in Juba.
He called on the non-signatory parties to the 2018 revitalized peace agreement to denounce violence and join the government to bring about peace and stability in the country.
“We should be united by the love of our country for conducting a peaceful, transparent, democratic, free and fair election before the end of the transitional period in 2025,” Adigo said.
Elections were supposed to take place in 2022, but they were postponed after the parties to the 2018 peace deal extended the tenure of the transitional government for another two years.
The largest opposition Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-in opposition (SPLM-IO) led by First Vice President Dr. Riek Machar said earlier that it will only take part in the elections if preconditions warranting free ,fair and credible elections are put in place.
However, Adigo noted that the Political Parties Act prohibits any parties such as SPLM-IO and South Sudan Opposition Alliance (SSOA) with a military wing from registering to take part in the elections.
He explained that SPLM-IO is conditioning it’s participation in the upcoming elections on the implementation of the security arrangements.
Despite the purported readiness of some political parties to take part in the elections, several observers say it would only be possible to envision free, fair, and credible elections in December 2024 if all parties and stakeholders grab the bull by the horns and agree on a critical mass of decisions by the first quarter of 2024.
