South Sudan's English Daily Newspaper
"We Dare where others fear"
By Simon Deng
The National Election Commission (NEC) is set to conduct training on the voting process in preparation for the upcoming 2026 general election, which is expected to take place at the end of the current transitional period.
Gabriel Bol Deng, the Secretary-General of the National Election Commission, said the Commission is fully prepared for the highly anticipated general election scheduled for December 2026.
“We have developed a training manual that will be rolled out to all the states. We have strengthened the institution, and now we are also going to empower the citizens by providing them with knowledge on how to choose their leaders and how democracy works,” said Deng in an interview.
“What we are doing is really to strengthen the institutions, both at the state and national levels. We have capacity at both the national and state levels. So now the next step is civic and voter education,” he said.
Deng revealed that the NEC is ready to conduct elections in December 2026 when the political parties that form the government of national unity decided to delink the permanent constitution and national census from the election.
“We have the curriculum and the training manual. The National Election Commission has launched a national baseline survey. It is an exercise to assess citizens’ knowledge about the electoral process,” he said.
“My final message to the people of South Sudan, especially the youth, who are the majority and potential voters, is to embrace the spirit of peaceful co-existence and prepare themselves to exercise their democratic right to elect the leaders of their choice.”
George Lemi, the spokesperson for the National Election Commission, said that the NEC, guided by the revitalised peace agreement, has undergone induction training on election management.
“We have completed induction training on election management and operations. We have also visited to benchmark the election commission of South Sudan against the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission of Kenya to identify gaps and gain in-depth experience,” said Lemi.
“We have conducted training on civic and voter education, and the Commission also called the ten state members for training, providing them with induction. The Commission also trained them on election operations, management, and administration,” he said.
