Activist says environment not conducive for elections

By Simon Deng

The Executive Director for Community Empowerment for Progress Organization, Edmund Yakani said the current environment is not yet conducive for free, fair and credible elections.

“The conducive environment for the conduct of election is not yet created in terms of functional institutions of the national election commission at the state level,” said Yakani in a statement issued on Sunday.

Yakani said there is no conducive security environment to ensure robust political competition.

“We are aware that still the element of insecurity is very high whether associated with unification of forces or inter-communal violence that is deadly going on across the country,” Yakani said.

The outspoken activist appealed to the government to allow the National Election Committee to decide on a timeline for elections extension.

“I would like to urge the presidency to immediately commission inter-party dialogue to decide on the fate of the implementation of the revitalized peace agreement pending tasks,” he said.

He called for urgent inter-party dialogue to reach political consensus and transition the country from violence to peace.

August 4, 2022, the parties to the September 2018 peace deal signed a roadmap extending the transitional period for 24 months, citing failure to complete critical benchmarks on the agreed time.

The parties extended the transitional period from 22nd of February 2023 to 22nd February 2025 with elections held in December 2024.