South Sudan’s transitional government has announced the postponement of long-delayed elections and extended the transition period by two years, citing the government’s failure to meet key provisions of a peace agreement. This marks the second time the country, which gained independence in 2011, has extended the transition period, which began in February 2020.
The decision follows recommendations from both election-related institutions and the security sector, which stressed the need for additional time to complete essential tasks before the next elections, said Martin Elia Lomuro, minister for Cabinet Affairs in the transitional government. “The government has reset the transition period, which will begin in February 2025 and last until 2026,” Lomuro said.
The world’s youngest nation was expected to elect leaders in its first-ever general elections on Dec. 22, 2026, at the end of the original transition period.
The Revitalised Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan was signed in 2018 to end the bloody civil war that had killed some 400,000 people, according to the United Nations. Under the agreement, the government was supposed to be dissolved on Sept. 22, 2024, as South Sudan prepared for elections this December.
