South Sudan’s National Elections Commission (NEC) has announced that voter registration will begin on Saturday, November 14, with 39 days remaining before the December 22 general elections. The exercise is expected to cover 3,161 centres nationwide over 15 days.
NEC Chairperson Gabriel Bol Deng said on Friday that registration would run until November 28 across the country’s 10 states and three administrative areas.
Speaking at a press conference in Juba, Bol Deng said the commission had recruited and trained 22,127 registration officials and appointed 204 constituency returning officers to oversee the exercise.
He said registration materials and equipment had been delivered to state capitals and administrative area headquarters but had yet to reach individual registration centres. Distribution was expected to be completed within two days, he added.
“We have 22,127 registration officials. They are already on the ground. The materials are there. They have not reached the registration centres, but in the next two days we have already mapped out the logistics,” Bol Deng said.
The commission urged eligible South Sudanese citizens to register at their nearest centres, provide accurate personal information and verify that their details had been correctly recorded. It also warned against multiple registration.
Eligible citizens will be required to present passports, national identity cards or other acceptable evidence of identity and age, Bol Deng said. Traditional leaders, including paramount chiefs and community chiefs, will help identify people who lack formal identification documents, he added.
Bol Deng said the 204 constituency returning officers had been trained and deployed to their respective areas to train registration officials.
The commission said information on the locations of registration centres would be published on its website to help citizens identify where to register.
Asked whether the two-week period would be sufficient to register voters across the country, Bol Deng defended the commission’s preparations, citing the recruitment and training of personnel and the distribution of registration materials.
The chairperson said NEC would publish a preliminary voters’ register after the 15-day exercise to establish the number of eligible voters ahead of candidate nominations.
Presidential aspirants will be required to present at least 10,000 supporters from each state, whose registration details will be verified by the commission, he said.
Bol Deng said the commission had consolidated the Elections Act and signed electoral regulations into law. It also plans to train journalists on media accreditation and the electoral code of conduct.
Asked about the funding and financing of the elections, Bol Deng said the commission had the necessary infrastructure in place and had received the required support, expressing confidence that preparations and other electoral activities would be completed as planned.
The December 22 elections are expected to be South Sudan’s first general elections since independence in 2011.
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