NEC CONVENES ROUNDTABLE DIALOGUE WITH CIVIL SOCIETY REPRESENTATIVES TO DISCUSS SUPPORT FOR A CONDUCIVE ENVIRONMENT FOR CREDIBLE ELECTIONS

The National Elections Commission (NEC) convened a roundtable discussion on 29th May 2025 in Juba with civil society representatives from across South Sudan to engage in an interactive dialogue on the legal, technical, financial and security challenges that must be urgently addressed in order to make positive progress toward preparations for a credible and inclusive electoral process. Over 50 civil society representatives from all ten (10) states, Administrative Areas Ruweng and Pibor participated in the discussion – in addition to Juba-based representatives and faith-based groups.

With support from the UN Integrated Electoral Assistance Team (UN IEAT), the dialogue provided an opportunity for discourse on electoral timeline challenges, in addition to legal and political clarity needed for the electoral process to move forward. 

The three thematic panel discussions, including panelists from NEC, UN IEAT and civil society, were moderated by Mr. Edmund Yakani, Executive Director of Community Empowerment for Progress Organization (CEPO), which focused on: (i) political decisions and legal clarifications needed, taking into account clarity needed on the Constitution-making Process timeline, population data and census related issues; (ii) technical challenges on options and timing considerations for voter registration, boundary delimitation, candidate nomination and urgent need for financial resources; and (iii) the conditions of creating an environment conducive for elections, including the necessity of civic, political space and its relation to election security and the prevention of electoral-related violence.

The roundtable dialogue concluded with the NEC and CSOs agreeing to a set of calls to action outlined in a Communiqué. The crux of these action points centered around the need for the transitional government and parties to the R-ARCSS to urgently meet and discuss key issues related to the way forward, including: clarity on legal framework and political decisions to be taken on issues such as the sequence of constitution-making process vis-à-vis electoral timeline, and what population data to be used for constituency delimitation.  The civil society representatives called for actions to be taken to open civic and political space, including guaranteeing the security conditions for the process to advance with full and free participation of all electoral stakeholders.