South Sudan maintains elections will hold in December

South Sudan will hold elections in December, the information minister vowed on Tuesday, after years of repeated delays.

“Elections must take place at the end of 2026, with no further extension,” Information Minister Ateny Wek Ateny told reporters in the capital Juba.

A 2018 peace agreement ended a five-year civil war in South Sudan. Under the peace process, elections were supposed to be held in 2022 but were delayed to 2024 and again to this year.

Tensions have escalated in recent months after the arrest of First Vice-President Riek Machar in 2025.

Ateny said South Sudan was experiencing “relative peace,” except for “some pockets of insecurity” in eastern Jonglei state. The insecurity has displaced tens of thousands of people.

The December vote would be the first national election since South Sudan gained independence from Sudan in 2011.

It remains unclear whether all parties to the 2018 peace agreement have committed to participating in the December vote. Ateny did not address Machar’s status or whether his party would take part.

SOURCE: AFP