South Sudan Risks Delaying December 2026 Elections Again – CEPO Report

(JUBA) – South Sudan could postpone its planned December 2026 general elections for a fifth time due to a lack of political will and insufficient funding, according to a new report released Wednesday by the Community Empowerment for Progress Organization (CEPO).

In its pre-election assessment, CEPO said the country’s leaders have repeatedly failed to allocate adequate resources for the electoral process, while prioritizing spending on military operations.

The group said the National Elections Commission has so far received only four percent of the budget it requested to organize the elections.

Without significant funding by the end of April, CEPO warned that the chances of holding elections in December are “slim.”

“The time for preparation of the South Sudan elections scheduled for December 2026 is getting closer without any concrete steps for creating a conducive environment for holding peaceful, credible and fair elections,” the report said.

CEPO identified three key challenges affecting the electoral process: delays in funding for the elections commission, ongoing military confrontations between government forces and opposition groups, and political maneuvering that has deepened divisions among parties to the 2018 peace agreement.

A critical deadline for finalizing voter registration lists is set for June 22, 2026, but observers fear it may not be met.

The report also blamed the Ministry of Finance and what it described as “influential leaders around the president” for any failure to hold the elections as scheduled, despite public assurances by President Salva Kiir that the vote will proceed.

President Kiir has recently established several committees, including a high-level dialogue committee on elections in January and an inter-party dialogue committee in March. The government says the committees are meant to build political consensus ahead of the vote.

However, CEPO warned that the initiatives could instead be used to justify extending the current transitional period.

“The continuous government pronouncements about elections are not genuine but rather a strategy to manage pressure from the public, regional and international actors,” the report said.

South Sudan has not held national elections since gaining independence in 2011. The current transitional government was established under the Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan signed in 2018, which ended a five-year civil war.

The African Union Peace and Security Council has urged the country’s leaders to stick to the electoral timeline, but observers say political commitment among key actors remains weak.

“South Sudan is likely to fail to hold the scheduled December 2026 elections due to a lack of political commitment, honesty and seriousness,” the report concluded.