The Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army-in Opposition (SPLM/A-IO), led by the First Vice President, Dr Riek Machar, has cautioned against early campaigns arguing that pertinent sections of the 2018 peace deal ought to be accomplished to pave way for an election.

Puok Both Baluang, Director for Information and Public Relations and Acting Press Secretary in the First Vice President’s Office, told The City Review that although their party was ready for an election and is the “best choice”, the political euphoria advanced by some peace partners in the name of campaigns are unnecessary to the pending grey areas of the electoral structures.

Baluang noted that without the Political Parties Act, all the political parties in the country are technically illegal. He said it is only the act that allows parties to register and conduct campaigns across the country.

“All the political parties in South Sudan now are illegal unless the act or the bill is passed by the parliament and all parties to the agreement go back to register as the political parties of South Sudan again,” he stated.

“Election at the end of the transitional period is a democratic process whereby the people of South Sudan will have the right to elect the person that they think is right to lead them in the future,” he added.

He cautioned other political parties against engaging in premature campaigns before the implementation of key areas of the Revitalised Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan (R-ARCSS).

“We should focus first on the implementation of the peace agreement in letter and spirit and make sure that all the services as I mentioned are there,” Baluang said.

“The permanent constitution, the repatriation of the refugees, and the security arrangements must be in place. We are not only talking about the graduation of forces, we are talking about creating a conducive environment for the people, and security must be in place for the people, as well as allowing the people to express themselves, and there must be freedom of participation, freedom of speech, and so on and so forth, “he said.

No shortcut in election

He added that there is no shortcut to the elections before all the prerequisites are put in place to make them a pointer to a free and fair election.

Baluang said the parties to the agreement needed to sit down and design what should become of the peace agreement after the transitional period elapses before the arrangements are in place.

The SPLM/A-IO are prepared for elections, but the prerequisite of holding elections must first be met. We are ready, but the prerequisite for the election must be there before we embark on talking about the elections at the moment. “

“We are playing our roles significantly, and we also urge our partners to the agreement to follow our footsteps to implement these prerequisites plus the agreement itself.

The information director noted that campaigning was not a violation of the agreement, except for confrontations and illegal recruitment of forces.

“All the parties have the right to freedom of expression by doing what they think is important for them. We, as the SPLM/A-IO, prefer that all these prerequisites must be in place before getting involved in the conduct of the election,” he said.

Party transformation

He reiterated that they would soon announce the replacements for all the vacant positions, that were vacated through defections and the demise of some generals who held key positions in the SPLM/A-IO.

In December last year, the SPLM/A-IO also promised that the appointment of their deputy chairperson to deputise Dr Machar was a stone’s throw away. He maintained that the formation of the National Liberation Council was completed and was a major step in the appointment of the deputy chairperson.

“The first step is that we should complete our National Liberation Council, which was conducted on the second of December. Now we have formed the NLC and according to our constitution, the appointee and the vacant positions from the SPLM-IO should come from the National Liberation Council which is the NLC,” he said.

“Now this process is done, we will (then) announce not only the deputy chair but other vacancies within the structure of the SPLM/A-IO, to have the deputy chairperson and (other positions left vacant) due to defections and other (factors) during the struggle.”

The new deputy chair will fill the position with Henry Odwar, who joined the Kit-Gwang Declaration led by Simon Gatwech Dual.

Puok also noted that they were already at the peak of transitioning the movement into a political party soon.