Juba, 2 September 2026 – Statement by Hon. George Lemi Stans, Spokesperson, National Elections Commission
The National Elections Commission (NEC) has noted posts circulating on social media claiming that voter registration is under way, that the Commission has released numbers of registered voters “per region”, and that the Commission has “rejected biometric registration” because of illiteracy “in the Bahr El Ghazal region”. These claims are false. The Commission sets the record straight below.
1. Voter registration has not started
No voter has been registered anywhere in South Sudan. There is no electoral register yet, and therefore no figures of registered voters exist for any state or administrative area. The numbers being circulated (890,457 for “Bahr El Ghazal”, 71,908 for “Equatoria” and 55,723 for “Upper Nile”) were not produced by the Commission and do not correspond to any registration activity. There is no “leaked” registration data, because there is no registration data.
Under the Commission’s registration procedures, the registration period and the locations of the registration centres are designated by public notice. That notice has not been issued. When it is, it will be published on the NEC website, on NEC social media pages and in national newspapers.
2. What the Commission is doing now
The Commission is in the preparatory phase of registration. On 2 and 3 September 2026 it is training electoral officials from the ten states and the three administrative areas in Juba on voter registration procedures, under a training programme adopted on 29 August 2026. The programme covers the elections legal framework, the registration forms and how they are completed, voter and civic education for registration, and the management of equipment and data during registration. These officials will return to their states and areas to train the local registration staff before the exercise begins.
The State High Elections Committees are almost done with assessing the voter registration centres to be used and have launched the civic and voter education campaign in seven states.
3. The registration method applies to the whole country
On 2 September 2026 the Chairperson of the Commission, Hon. Prof. Abednego Akok Kacuol, announced that voter registration will be conducted manually, in person and on paper, across the whole country. The data will then be entered into the Commission’s computer systems and the original registration books will be preserved in the state offices as a permanent record. This is the method set out in the Commission’s registration procedures.
The decision reflects literacy levels in the population as a whole and is intended to make registration accessible to every community in every part of the country. It is not a decision about any one region, and the Commission has made no statement about “the Bahr El Ghazal region”. Voter registration in South Sudan is organised through the ten states and the three administrative areas, each with its own State High Elections Committee. The Commission does not organise, count or report registration by “regions”.
4. Statements attributed to Commission officials
The Secretary-General of the Commission, Mr Gabriel Bol Deng, and the Commission’s other officials have not released any registration statistics, because none exist. Any quotation attributed to a Commission official that confirms numbers of registered voters, or describes the progress of a registration exercise that has not begun, is not authentic and should be disregarded.
5. Who may register
Every South Sudanese citizen who will be eighteen years of age or older on polling day, 22 December 2026, will be entitled to register at a registration centre once registration opens, on production of the identification provided for in the Commission’s procedures. The Chairperson has reminded electoral officials that the eligibility rules are to be applied exactly as written. The Commission will announce the dates, the centres and the documents to bring, in good time and through its official channels.
Guidance to the public and the media
- Rely on the Commission’s official channels only: this website (www.nec.gov.ss), the Commission’s verified social media pages on Facebook, namely National Elections Commission of South Sudan and the page of the Spokesperson, Hon George Lemi Stans, the State High Elections Committees and the Commission’s spokesperson.
- Do not share unverified figures or “leaked” documents about voter registration. Registration has not begun, and no such documents exist.
- Media houses are requested to verify any claim about the electoral process with the NEC Spokesperson before publication.
- Members of the public who encounter false information about the elections may report it to the nearest State High Elections Committee office or to the Commission through the contacts below.
The Commission remains committed to a peaceful, free, fair, credible and inclusive general election on 22 December 2026, and to keeping the public accurately informed at every stage of the process.