South Sudan is entering a decisive phase of its political transition, with the government set for dissolution on Tuesday, September 22, as President Salva Kiir moves to steer the country through the final three months before its long-delayed general elections.
The transition follows President Kiir’s signing on Monday of amendments to the National Elections Act, removing the requirement for a permanent constitution and a national census to be completed before elections can take place. The changes are intended to clear the legal path for the December 22 elections, which would be the country’s first national polls since independence in 2011.
The amended law also fundamentally changes the political structure during the election period. It allows the incumbent executive leadership to remain in office with full constitutional powers until a newly elected president assumes office, while giving President Kiir powers to relieve the First Vice President and other vice presidents within three months of election day.
This effectively brings the five-member vice-presidential arrangement created under the 2018 peace agreement into question as South Sudan moves towards elections. The power-sharing arrangement was established to accommodate rival political forces after years of civil war, with former rebel leader Riek Machar serving as First Vice President.
Under the new framework, the president will therefore become the central executive authority during the election period, while other transitional political offices are restructured or dissolved.
The changes also significantly reduce the size of the national legislature. Reuters reported that the amended law cuts the National Legislative Assembly from the current 650 members to 270, while state legislative assemblies will have 58 members, down from 100. Legislative councils in administrative areas will have 20 members.
The figure of 332 members had featured in the earlier version of the amendment bill and was also reflected in information published by South Sudan’s National Elections Commission. However, the final law signed by President Kiir on September 21 sets the National Legislative Assembly at 270 members.
The restructuring marks a major departure from the transitional institutions established under the 2018 Revitalised Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan.
The new electoral framework also separates the December elections from the country’s unfinished constitution-making process and census. Government officials have argued that the changes are necessary to prevent further delays, while opposition groups have questioned the process.
The South Sudan Opposition Alliance has rejected the amendments, saying they were adopted without adequate consultation among the parties to the 2018 peace agreement.
The timing of the transition is particularly significant because South Sudan has repeatedly postponed elections since gaining independence. The December 22 vote is therefore being presented by the government as a critical step towards ending the prolonged transitional arrangement.
The National Elections Commission has been preparing for the polls, although Reuters reported that voter registration had not yet begun as of September 22. The commission itself had earlier confirmed that elections would proceed without waiting for a new population census and had designated the 102 geographical constituencies associated with the 2010 electoral framework.
The political stakes are also heightened by the recent leadership change at the electoral commission. Kiir dismissed commission chairperson Abednego Akok Kacuol last week and appointed Gabriel Bol Deng Majok, the commission’s former secretary general, as his replacement. No public reason was given for the dismissal.
As South Sudan moves into the final 91 days before the scheduled vote, the country faces the challenge of translating the new legal framework into an operational electoral process while managing competing political interests.
For President Kiir, who leads the ruling Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM), the period represents a transition from the collective executive structure established by the peace agreement to an election framework in which the presidency retains full constitutional authority until the next elected government takes office.
The December election will therefore test not only South Sudan’s ability to organise its first national vote since independence, but also whether the country can move from a prolonged power-sharing transition to an elected political order without reopening the conflict that the 2018 peace agreement sought to end.
