The main opposition faction loyal to South Sudan’s suspended First Vice President, Dr Riek Machar, has rejected a Presidency decision to hold national elections by December 2026, describing the meeting that produced the resolution as illegitimate and lacking inclusivity South Sudan News.
The decision was announced on Friday by the Minister of Presidential Affairs, Africano Mande Gedima, following a high-level meeting chaired by President Salva Kiir and attended by the country’s four vice presidents. The gathering resolved to rule out any further extension of the transitional period set out in the 2018 Revitalised Peace Agreement.
The meeting was also attended by a splinter faction of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-in-Opposition (SPLM-IO), formed in April 2025 and led by Peacebuilding Minister Stephen Par Kuol.
However, the mainstream SPLM-IO, which remains loyal to Machar, issued a strong rebuttal. In a statement signed by its Political Bureau focal point in Juba, Engineer Joseph Malwal Dong, the group said the meeting “lacked inclusivity” and therefore could not produce binding resolutions.
The opposition noted that Machar, who remains the SPLM-IO chairman and commander-in-chief, was excluded from the talks while under house arrest and facing trial over the Nasir incident. It added that no senior leaders from the mainstream SPLM-IO were invited, despite the group being a principal signatory to the 2018 peace deal.
The statement also criticised the reconstitution of the High-Level Standing Committee responsible for implementing the peace agreement. According to the SPLM-IO, President Kiir reshuffled the body following Machar’s arrest in March, effectively removing the group’s representation.
The opposition warned that the peace agreement could not be amended “without the participation and consent of the SPLM-IO” and alleged that the current push to revise key provisions was part of a broader strategy to dismantle the accord rather than a genuine effort to prepare for elections.
As a result, the group said it formally distances itself from the resolutions of the Presidency meeting and the declaration endorsing the 2026 election timeline.
South Sudan’s political transition, launched under the 2018 agreement, has suffered repeated delays. Critical provisions—including the unification of armed forces, constitution-making, a national census, institutional reforms, refugee repatriation and electoral preparations—remain incomplete.
In September 2024, signatories to the peace deal agreed to postpone elections from December 2024 to December 2026, extending the transitional period once again amid persistent political tensions between President Kiir and Machar.
Observers warn that renewed disagreement over the election roadmap could further strain the fragile power-sharing arrangement and heighten uncertainty as the proposed 2026 polls approach.