South Sudanese religious leaders have urged the government to conduct elections on time.
The primate of the Episcopal Church of South Sudan (ECSS), Archbishop Justin Badi Arama, appealed to the Revitalized Transitional Government of National Unity and friends of South Sudan to ensure that elections are held without further extensions.
He said the leadership of ECSS believes this will ensure that the lives of innocent citizens are not put at risk,
“We are all in agreement that the election must be conducted. However, we are very much concerned that most of the key prerequisites of the election process are not fully implemented,'' Arama said in a press briefing on Wednesday.
President running
He said cited security arrangements, the reconstitution of the National Election Commission, funding of the election budget, the repatriation and reintegration of returnees, and the reconstitution of the Political Parties Council.
''We are saying that before the election, all these prerequisites must be fully implemented,” he said.
South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir early this month pledged to hold the country's first elections since independence from Sudan in 2002.
President Kiir said he would run for the nation’s highest office as the flag bearer for his Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) party.
Kiir stressed that there would be no more extensions of the transitional period once it ends in 2024. South Sudan is scheduled to hold general elections in December 2024
