CEPO warns leaders not to contradict each other about the general elections in South Sudan.

Edmund Yakani, Executive Director of Community Empowerment for Progress Organization (CEPO), has said that any hurry to have an election without a favorable climate may bring the nation to war.
In a statement made on Monday, Yakani said, “These early political contradictory pronouncements on the conduct of general national elections by political leaders should cease.”

“It is quite easy to deceive the people about the relevance of elections in shifting the nation from bloodshed to peace.”

The activist emphasized that South Sudan’s political leaders should take the time to make fundamental, meaningful judgments on how the general elections should be conducted.

According to Yakani, the odds of the nation reverting to violence are significant owing to election malpractices with a high probability of anomalies.

“A true political commitment from the leadership in South Sudan is required for the political transition from conflict to peace,” he stated.

He observed that prominent political figures have begun to provide public pronouncements on whether or not elections would be conducted.

Yakani said that the requirements for credible and fair elections included in the Revitalised Agreement on the Resolution of Conflict in South Sudan had yet to be satisfied.

“The requirements of R-ARCSS related to the electoral process that is designed to provide a favorable atmosphere for fair, credible, and non-violent elections for a peaceful transfer of power for the goal of achieving a peaceful and stable state have not been satisfied.”

CEPO has argued, through its Electoral Observatory, that political establishments in the Revitalized Transitional Government of National Unity (RTGoNU) should commission a genuine and credible situation assessment of the elections for the conduct of peaceful and fair elections before deciding on the conduct of elections.

“Meeting the standards established in the R-ARCSS rules linked with the electoral process is critical for creating legal and institutional capacity for the conduct of peaceful and fair elections,” Yakani added.

He stressed the need of carrying out the main duties outlined in Chapter Two of the R-ARCSS on Transitional Security Arrangements.

“The amount of civic knowledge necessary for actual public involvement is nil, which implies elections with fewer informant voters,” the activist remarked.