The extended pact, the “Agreement on the Roadmap to a Peaceful and Democratic End of the Transitional Period of the Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan (Roadmap),” provides for elections to be held by December 2024. [...] In addition to such a narrow purpose, the grand aim of the amendment is to provide a ‘legal framework for the conduct of periodic, transparent, genuine, democratic and peaceful, free and fair elections’.6 The basic principles include respect of the will of the people, right of every citizen to participate in elections, and ensuring transparency in the elections process, among others. [...] Also, the passing of the Act by the NLA was marred by lack of consensus, as the SPLM-IO objected to section 60 that gives the elected president the power to appoint 5% of the legislature. [...] First, the RTGoNU should address lacuna in section 60 of the NEA (Amendment 2023) to accurately redistribute the entire section to simply clarify that 5% (17 seats) will first be taken from the total of 332 seats of the Assembly and the remaining seats (315 seats) will be allocated as per the provisions of section 60 of the NEA. [...] Third, with the inclusion of the three administrative areas in the NEA, some of the provisions relating to the levels of government need to be amended, particularly section 61 that is silent on the number of members of the administrative areas’ legislative councils.
- Pages
- 7
- Published in
- South Sudan
