South Sudanese Opposition Parties Reject 2015 Election Proposed by President Kiir
Date: 1 December 2014
Chairman,
The National Elections Commission,
Dear Sir,
Subject: The Consultative Meeting on the 2015 Draft Electoral Calendar
Thank you very much for inviting us to the Consultative meeting on the 2015 Draft Electoral Calendar as per your letter dated the 25th of November 2014. Please, allow us to present in what follows the way we see the process going.
Sir,
Elections are a means of ascertaining the choices of the people of a country of their political leaders. Hence, elections are not an end in themselves but a means for an end, which is the free choice of a people of their government. For that matter, the National Elections Commission has been chosen in accordance with Article 197(3) of the Transitional Constitution of the Republic of South Sudan, 2011, from “persons of proven integrity, competence, non-partisan and impartial” tasked with carrying out democratic, peaceful, free, fair and credible elections. In all honesty, is the current situation in the country conducive for conducting democratic, peaceful, free, fair and credible elections?
Sir,
Before answering this question, let us consider the following facts.
1. The current civil war
As you are aware, our country is and has been since mid-December 2013 in the grip of a bloody civil war that claimed the lives of tens of thousands of our citizens, displaced two million people, resulted in the destruction of public and individual properties and caused irreparable damage in the social fabric of our communities. Can a situation in which the bullets are hissing, vast territories of land are depopulated and potential candidates cannot cross tribal boundaries, for the ethnic nature the war has acquired, be conducive for democratic, peaceful and credible elections?
We would have thought that the priority at the moment and at any time should have been to bring about a negotiated peaceful settlement that will establish a comprehensive peace all over the country followed by reconciliation and healing among our divided people. Then and only then, can a credible election be conducted. For sure, we are on the way of achieving a negotiated settlement through the IGAD led mediation. Any attempt to carry out partial elections is a recipe for the escalation of war as the other warring party will try its best to interrupt the elections while the government mobilizes its resources to see the process through. Our experiences of partial elections in Sudan are still fresh in our minds and were not by any standard pleasant. We should not repeat obvious mistakes.
This is our basic concern. The following procedural matters do not also seem to have fallen in place in the scheme of things according to the Commission.
2. The Constitution, the Act and the Regulations
The legal framework of the National Elections Commission is the Constitution, the National Elections Act and the Elections Regulations. The last document details out the procedures for conducting the various stages of the electoral process. We are not yet in possession of such a document and would like the Commission to enlighten us as to how it can embark on the Election Calendar when such an important reference document is missing. For the sake of transparency and openness, the Regulations should be made available to the general public.
Article 194 of the Constitution clearly stipulates that “The National Government shall during the Transitional period conduct a population census the outcome of which shall, inter alia, determine the number of the electoral constituencies for the next general elections.” No population census has yet been conducted, how will the Commission determine the number of electoral constituencies? Furthermore, Section 38 of the National Elections Act unambiguously states that the boundaries of the geographical constituencies can only be determined by the Commission “following the publication of the results of each population census”. No other method is contemplated. Therefore, the proposal of the Commission to “use voter registration as the source for determining Geographical Electoral Constituencies” has no basis in law. It is not the business of the Commission to look for data for the demarcation of the geographical constituencies, it should be provided with ready information by the Executive branch of government. If that information does not come on time, especially when the Commission has alerted those concerned as early as July, then it should clearly point out the difficulty of conducting the elections on time.
3. The Role of the Political Parties
Section 6 of the Act stipulates that the election process shall be “transparent and open” and hence the Commission shall inform and acquaint the public, political parties and other stakeholders with all the various stages of the elections process, from beginning to end. Therefore, political parties and other stakeholders must monitor the demarcation of constituencies, voter registration, etc., as stated in Section 6(2) and referred to in a number of other sections of the Act. However, Section 7 defines a political party as that “registered under the Political Parties Act, 2012”. No party has yet been registered under this Act, not because of a mistake from their side, but because the Political Parties’ Council appointed since 2012 has not taken the oath of office since then. Only recently did five members of the Council take the oath of Office and they have not yet appointed a Secretary General for the Council as required by law nor did they prepare the regulations on the basis of which the political parties will register. When all that is fixed and done, the law allows for a period of 90 days for the political parties to complete registration. How will unregistered political parties monitor the electoral process from A to Z without violating the National Elections Act?
Hence, even if the Political Parties’ Council were to be ready today, which is not the case, it will not be before March 2015 when some political parties would have completed their registration process. According to the Act, the electoral process should start then not as came in the proposal of the Commission.
4. The Electoral Calendar Draft 4
The Electoral Calendar Draft 4 presented is well behind schedule by many stages and cannot be reasonably amended to fitthe set date for the election to begin. We should not be seen to be rushing to meet a deadline at the expense of the fairness and credibility of the process.
Dear Chairman of the Commission,
Conclusion
On the basis of the above, it is our considered opinion that the time is not yet ripe for conducting democratic, peaceful, free, fair and credible elections in our war torn country. Our priority should be to double up our efforts to bring about a negotiated peaceful settlement of the armed conflict. The Peace Agreement, when reached, has its own programme for the electoral process. Seven months are more than enough to reach a peaceful settlement if the stakeholders have the political will to make the compromises necessary to attain peace. What happens if the 2015 elections are not held is a matter for the politicians, not the Commission, to sort out.
The National Elections Commission as a neutral and impartial body is governed by the Constitution, the National Elections Act and the Regulations governing the elections. The Chairman and members of the Commission took the oath of office to deliver a democratic, peaceful, free, fair, transparent and credible election. They are morally and professionally bound to stick to their mandate and respect the procedures and timelines set by these documents.
We hope the Commission will put the matters we have raised above into its consideration.
Thank you once more.
Signatures of the political parties are attached.
c.c. Chairman, the Political Parties’ Council.
Signed in Juba on Monday December 1, 2014,at the Regency Hotel, by:
No //Name //Party //Position //Signature
1 Kornelio Kon Ngu NUDF Chairman
2 Sebastian Uchan Kich UDF Chairman
3 Albino John Laku Awan DUP Chairman
4 Garang Thuc Garang PURE Chairman
5 Abdalla Deng Nhial PCP Chairman
6 Nkrumah Anai Kelueljang SSNYP Chairman
7 Ismail Suleiman Saeed CPSS Member of CC
8 Steward Soroba UDP D/Chairman
9 Simon Primo SSDA D/Chairman
10 Abbas Bullen Ajalla UDSF-M Secretary General
11 Deng Bior Deng SPLM-DC Secretary General
12 Juma Saeed Worju SSNP Secretary General
13 Stephen Goro Gabriel NDF Secretary General
14 Andrew Philipson Abili NJMP Atg/Secretary General
15 Peter Lomude Francis USSP Representative
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