South Sudan's English Daily Newspaper
"We Dare where others fear"
By Simon Deng
The Chairperson for African Independent Party (AIP), Ajiek Taban has urged the Political Parties Council to make the registration of the new political parties an open and continuous process as opposed to the restriction.
“I urge the government not to restrict registration of new political parties, not to stop registration of new political parties, the registration of new political parties is something normal and it has to be a continuous process,” said Taban on Saturday in an interview.
“Not all the political parties will have their candidates being elected, others will join coalition and others will remain as activists doing awareness and advocacy campaign to the people about their rights among other things,” he said.
On Friday, the Chairperson of the National Election Commission, Abednego Akok announced that the 2024 general election will be held from December 22, 2024 to February 22, 2025 as stipulated in the roadmap of the 2018 revitalized peace agreement.
Taban said the Political Parties Council is worried that many parties can make alliance to overthrow the current government, adding that the Political Parties Council should not stop registration of political parties over fear that all political parties are going to contest in election.
“I am urging the government to make registration of new political parties open because it can be a source of revenue for the government, even 500 political parties or 1000 political parties can be registered,” he said.
Late last month, the Political Parties Council announced June 30, 2024 as the deadline to end registration for political parties aspiring to contest in the upcoming December 2024 general elections.
In March, the Political Parties Council set the registration fee for political parties at 75,000 U.S dollars, leading several parties to stage a protest leaving about 30 political parties registered across the country.
