The National Alliance Press Statement on the Postponement of June 2015 Elections
THE NATIONAL ALLIANCE (To Build a National Democratic State)
PRESS STATEMENT ON THE DECISION OF THE COUNCIL OF MINISTERS TO CANCEL THE ELECTIONS AND EXTEND THE TERMS OF OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT AND PARLIAMENT
February 17, 2015 (SSB) — In its regular sitting on Friday the 13th instant, the Council of Ministers took a decision to cancel the elections and extend the terms of office of the President and the National Legislature by two years as from the 9th of July 2015. The Council of the National Alliance deliberated on the matter and would like to issue the following statement.
1. Cancellation of the Elections
The public is aware of the fact that we in the National Alliance and other concerned South Sudanese have ever since the idea of the election was mooted by the government advised against holding it. The main reason behind our advice was that our country is riven by a devastating civil war that has caused the death of tens of thousands of innocent citizens, displaced more than two million persons, torn apart our social fabric, destroyed properties and infrastructure, and left more than half of our population vulnerable to famine.
This situation was and still is a calamity of great proportions. Our hearts are bleeding and it will be the height of cynicism to go to these suffering people seeking their votes. It was therefore obvious that the priority should be to attain peace and stability so that life could return to normalcy for our people to be able to exercise their democratic rights including the right to choose their leaders. In our strenuous attempts to drive this point home, we met the National Elections Commission on the 1st of December 2014 and gave them a written position as to why it was not appropriate to hold elections now before the end of the war.
However, the government and the Chairman of the National Elections Commission ignored our advice and insisted to go ahead with the exercise. Indeed, the Chairman of NEC declared on 31 December 2014 that elections will be held on 30 June 2015. This prompted us to lodge a constitutional suit before the Supreme Court seeking injunction to put the elections on hold. The Supreme Court sat on Wednesday the 11th instant and decided to write to the Minister of Justice and the Chairman of NEC to respond to our petition and appear before the court in its next sitting on the 3rd of March 2015.
In fact, the Supreme Court served the NEC on the 12thinstant with the notice to appear before it on that date. This was the background to the Council of Ministers’ decision.
On Friday, the Government Spokesman on announcing the decision of the Council of Ministers stated that the reason for the cancellation was to give priority to peace, something we have been repeating for months and fell on deaf ears. Now, they have come to realize this fact after having spent a lot of money that should have been better spent to feed our hungry people.
For us, it is better late than never. We think that sense has at long last prevailed in the government. However, once it has declared an election, the government has no constitutional or legal authority to cancel the conduct of the elections. The only two sections in the law that allow postponement of elections by NEC are 57 and 150 for only 60 days and for specific reasons none of which applies in this case. The law was intentionally written that way to protect democracy from any government that may decide to interrupt elections whenever it feels that it may be losing the contest.
Therefore, the decision of the Council of Ministers has no basis in the constitution and the law and was an attempt to preempt the court procedures in a way that bypasses the law. Hence, the only authority that can cancel the elections remains the Supreme Court. We are looking forward to the sitting of the Supreme Court on the matter already scheduled for the 3rd of March.
2. Extension of the terms of office of the President and Parliament
The government also announced on Friday that it was recalling Parliament on Tuesday the 17th instant so as to amend the Constitution in order to extend the terms of office of the President and Parliament for two more years as from the 9th of July 2015. This decision has proved beyond doubt that this government is only concerned about continuing in power by all means. The hullabaloo about elections had nothing to do with upholding democratic values but all about getting the “legitimacy” through fake elections to continue hanging to power. No government in a democratic state has power to extend its own life!
Otherwise, if this were to be the case, sitting governments would have continued in power through extending their term of office ad infinitum. The decision to amend the Constitution in order to extend the constitutionally stipulated term is a political decision which should be taken by the political forces in the country for specific reasons and with a clear programme. It is the strength of this consensus that will direct the members of Parliament to carry out the formal amendment.
It must also be clear that although the term is extended, it is not for the same sitting government but for one agreed upon by the people. In this case, the only reason for extending the term of office for the government would be to give the people of South Sudan more time in their search for peace. The current government itself and the rebels have signed an agreement in Addis Ababa on the 1st instant that promised the South Sudanese and the whole world that a peace agreement would be concluded by the 5th of March 2015.
That agreement provides for a transitional period of 30 months (commencing on 9th July 2015) at the end of which a general election shall take place. When the peace agreement is signed, the Constitution shall be amended to incorporate, inter alia, a term of office of 30 months for the new government. If the current government was serious about its commitment to peace and to the said agreement, why doesn’t it stick to this timetable? Why extend the period now and not, let us say, on the 5th of March or thereafter (when the agreement would have been signed)?
This question becomes more relevant given the fact that even if the government tables its amendment bill on the 17th as promised, it will not be debated – according to the Constitution- until the 17th of March at the earliest. What is the hurry for?
The decision of the government to extend its life a few days before the Addis Ababa meeting scheduled for the 19th instant, is ill-advised and is an attempt to scuttle the peace process. The government has no mandate to extend its term of office without going back to the people. Article 3 of the Constitution stipulates that the “Constitution derives its authority from the will of the people.” How can a government whose term has come to an end amend the constitution to buy itself more lease on life?
3. The Way Forward
The current government has a track record of colossal failure. Since 2005 to date, it failed to deliver basic services to our suffering people, it was involved in rampant corruption in which billions of our oil money lined the pockets and swelled the bank accounts of government ministers and senior officials with their business associates, its policies ensured that the flood of good will the international community showed towards the government of South Sudan ebbed away, and it made sure that the indices of performance of our country took us to lead the most fragile states.
Above all that, the same government divided itself causing the current devastating war in the country. Even before the current destructive civil war, our people were waiting patiently to see their backs come 9th July 2015. Such an inefficient government and a rubber-stamp parliament do not deserve to stay in power for a single day beyond the term of office stipulated for them in the Constitution.
It must be remembered that it was the intransigence of the two warring parties that delayed the conclusion of the peace agreement up to this point. They did not respect the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement they signed on 23 January 2014 and kept renewing, and they lacked the political will to make the concessions necessary at the peace talks so as to make a peace agreement possible. Therefore, none of them should be rewarded for stalling the peace process. By so doing we would have done a lot of disservice to our suffering people and let them down.
This logjam can only be broken in one of two ways, none of which involves the extension of the life of the current government. The first option, and the most ideal, is when a peace agreement negotiated through an inclusive process has been reached according to the timetable set out by the 1st of February agreement between the two warring parties in Addis Ababa. The peace agreement shall then be incorporated into the current Constitution so that the Transitional Government of National Unity assumes office by 9th July 2015 for a period of 30 months.
The second option shall only be considered if the upcoming peace talks in Addis Ababa fail to be conclusive by the date set. Then and only then, shall all the political forces in the country together with the civil society in its broad definition convene a national conference to discuss the road map for the country after 9th of July 2015 when the mandate of the current government would have come to an end. Here, the conferees shall discuss how to approach the peace talks with the rebels and form a government of National Unity with a clear peace programme and a limited term of office to implement this programme, in addition, of course, to perform the routine functions of any government.
This experience is not new; South Sudanese sat in 2010 in the All Southern Sudan Political Parties Conference to prepare for the referendum and worked out a road map for the expected new country to be. Our country would have avoided the current carnage hadn’t the SPLM reneged on the resolutions of that conference.The latest decisions of the government can only be read as an attempt to repeat the same mistake.
4. Conclusion
The feverish moves by the government to hold elections before peace is attained defied any logic and were unpopular among our people. The decision taken by the government to cancel the elections was a step in the right direction but it is against the electoral law. Therefore, the final decision remains to be with the Supreme Court.
The government’s other decision to extend the terms of elected institutions, coming a few days before the upcoming Addis Ababa final peace talks, was premature and exposed the current government’s insatiable lust to cling to power by all means. The decision on what to do after the 9th of July 2015, is a political decision that requires the consensus of all the political forces in the country. Such a decision must await the outcome of the peace talks in Addis Ababa expected to conclude by 5th March.
By that time we still have more than four months ahead of us to deliberate on the future of our country should the two warring parties fail to conclude a peace agreement. It boggles the mind that those who have repeatedly been promising us that ‘peace was around the corner’ are now turning into prophets of doom in relation to attaining peace. This tells a lot about their intentions.
We call upon the people of South Sudan to reject any attempts to stall the peace process in order to remain in power without the mandate of the people. This is no less than the usurpation of power by non-democratic means that we have already condemned.
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