Juba, South Sudan – 21 October 2025: The National Elections Commission (NEC) of South Sudan convened a high-level consultative meeting with key electoral stakeholders, including representatives from political parties, the High-Level Standing Committee on the Implementation of the Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan (R-ARCSS), the Political Party Council, the National Bureau of Statistics, the National Constitutional Review Commission, Transitional National Legislative Assembly, faith leaders, the election security coordination committee, civil society organisations, and the media to provide electoral updates and discuss critical actions needed to address the challenges impacting electoral preparations, including political decisions, legal clarity, and funding.
Held in Juba, the meeting aimed to foster collaboration, transparency, and mutual understanding among key electoral stakeholders in order to support preparations for an inclusive, credible, and peaceful electoral process. NEC Commissioners and Secretariat staff gave a comprehensive briefing on recent achievements and continued challenges, including:
- Adoption of regulations for observers, media, party agents, and election campaigns.
- Adoption and signing of the NEC Code of Conduct for professional election management.
- Development of a civic and voter education strategy, with plans to roll out a nationwide civic education campaign upon receipt of financial resources.
- Refurbishment and construction of State High Election Committee offices, in order to operationalize electoral offices across the country.
- Regular engagement with electoral stakeholders at national and state levels.
- Development of an indicative draft electoral operations timeline, based on assumptions that depend on political decisions, legal clarity, and funding.
- Impact of limited political will, legal clarity, and funding, in addition to other challenges, such as civic and political space, including election security, on the electoral operating environment.
In a spirit of open discussion, stakeholders shared perspectives on the need for political decisions and commitment, legal clarity, adequate funding, security, and space for civil society to engage citizens and political parties to form, campaign and reach out to voters. NEC officials emphasized the importance of stakeholders’ support in enabling timely decisions and funding to move forward with election preparations.
NEC Chairperson, Prof. Abednego Akok Kacuol, acknowledged stakeholders feedback, stressed the limited time remaining, and called for consensus and prompt actions to support electoral progress to be made.
“We appreciate all of your comments, but we urge you, especially the parties to the Peace Agreement, to dialogue and reach consensus quickly on the necessary political decisions to address legal gaps and ensure sufficient and timely funding for the electoral process,” said Hon. Prof. Abednego.
The NEC reaffirmed the Commission’s commitment to organizing credible, inclusive, and peaceful elections, guided by principles of transparency and democratic participation.
The meeting concluded with a shared commitment for urgent advocacy and to continue stakeholder engagements, to build trust in the electoral process, and strengthen civic and political space for inclusive citizen participation in the elections, recognizing that credible elections are foundational to peace and democratic development in South Sudan.
For further information, please contact:
National Elections Commission – Spokesperson
info@nec.gov.ss
www.nec.gov.ss