South Sudan President Salva Kiir has dissolved the country’s transitional unity government and appointed a caretaker administration ahead of planned national elections scheduled for December 22.
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The presidential decree brings an end to the power-sharing arrangement created under the 2018 peace agreement. It removes all vice-presidents, ministers and local administrators, and dissolves the national and state assemblies.
The judiciary and security institutions will remain in place, according to the decree, which was read out by the South Sudan Broadcasting Corporation.
The order also states that Kiir will remain president “during the election period until the next elected president assumes office.” The decree does not identify the members or structure of the caretaker administration.
Election timetable remains in focus
The changes follow parliament’s approval of amendments to the National Elections Act. The amendments remove vice-presidents appointed under the 2018 peace deal and allow Kiir to remain in power during the election period.
They also allow the country to move toward elections without first completing a permanent constitution or a census. Those processes had been linked to the transitional period, alongside other outstanding tasks including voter registration and the unification of armed forces loyal to rival political factions.
South Sudan’s elections were initially expected in 2022 but have been postponed twice. The next national vote is scheduled for December 22, although the available information does not establish whether it will proceed on that date.
The main opposition alliance has rejected the changes. Kiir’s longtime rival, Riek Machar, who leads the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-in-Opposition, remains under house arrest and is on trial on charges including treason and murder. Machar denies the charges.
Concerns over concentration of power
Analysts cited in the report raised concerns about the extent of power placed in the president’s hands by the decree and the amended election law.
Lawyer and former constitution drafting committee member Michael Wani said: “Kiir will be the only person in power, without vice-presidents, without the executive, without the parliament.”
Independent analyst Machot Amuom described the legal changes as containing a lot of “ambiguity”. He said the new law could give the president broad authority, including the ability to delay the vote. “The new law gives the president full powers … He can decide even not to go for elections for another year or another two years,” Amuom said.
Those comments represent analysts’ concerns rather than an established decision to postpone the scheduled elections.
Election commission leadership changed
Kiir replaced the head of the elections commission the previous week without giving a reason. The South Sudan Broadcasting Corporation reported that Gabriel Bol Deng Majok, the newly appointed commission chief, had received a “fresh mandate” to oversee preparations for the polls.
Amnesty International described the presidential decree as a “decisive step” toward South Sudan’s first-ever elections. Tigere Chagutah, the organisation’s regional director for East and Southern Africa, urged the authorities to “ensure that a conducive environment exists for people to vote and stand in elections”.
The political transition is taking place under heightened security in Juba. Agence France-Presse reported checkpoints and road closures around the government complex, while security personnel were ordered to remain on heightened alert for three days.
The 2018 agreement ended five years of civil war and created the transitional unity government. The United Nations has estimated that about 400,000 people were killed during the conflict.
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