By William Madouk
Political parties under the umbrella of the South Sudan Opposition Alliance (SSOA), a signatory to the 2018 revitalized peace agreement, have backed South Sudan’s plan to conduct elections in December.
Chairperson of SSOA who is also the national minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Josephine Lagu Yanga, said in their position letter that they support the timely conduct of the December 2024 elections and speed up the remaining prerequisites.
“The position of SSOA is that we should aim at holding the elections as stipulated in the roadmap,” said Ms. Yanga.
“For sure, there are prerequisites that can be implemented to render the elections in December 2024 worthy of name,” she added.
This came after the SSOA leadership council met on Saturday to discuss their position on the upcoming polls.
According to the SSOA, people are fed up with endless transitions and are yearning for elections to choose their leaders.
They added that polls are a primary requirement of the revitalized peace agreement, adding that failure to hold elections in itself is a violation.
However, Mrs. Lagu cited that there are some matters that must be discussed among political parties.
“Therefore, there is an urgent need for dialogue that brings together all the signatories to the 2018 R-ARCSS.”
“Let us dialogue to see together how the transitional period can be ended peacefully in the way it should. Our people have suffered enough, and they need a new beginning,” she noted.
SSOA is comprised of about eight parties that were involved in the current South Sudan peace agreement.
South Sudan has barely nine months to conduct its first-ever elections since independence.
But the main opposition party, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in Opposition under Dr. Riek Machar, has been casting doubts over the prospect of conducting successful December 2024 polls.