South Sudan opposition leader Dr. Lam Akol Ajawin returned to Juba after several months of medical treatment in Jordan, saying his party is ready to contest the 2026 general elections if conditions are created for a credible and inclusive vote.
Speaking to reporters on arrival on Thursday, Akol, who leads the National Democratic Movement (NDM), said elections should be viewed as a process requiring preparatory steps rather than a single event, and called for expanded political and civic space to allow free campaigning.
“We think that election is a process. It is not an event and for it to be possible, there are certain things that must be done,” he said. “You must have a widened civic space. You must have the political parties campaign freely.”
Akol also urged the National Election Commission to provide clarity on the electoral timetable, saying political parties require sufficient time and information to prepare for the polls.
He said the National Democratic Movement (NDM), a member of the South Sudan Opposition Alliance (SSOA), a signatory to the 2018 peace agreement, is prepared to meet registration requirements and take part in the elections if the necessary legal and institutional frameworks are established.
“We have always been calling for the elections, and we will always be ready,” he said.
His return comes days after the Political Parties Council set June 30 as the deadline for political parties to complete registration ahead of the planned vote.
South Sudan is scheduled to hold general elections in December 2026, its first since independence in 2011. The government has said the polls will mark a key milestone in the country’s political transition, while opposition parties and civil society groups have called for reforms to ensure a credible and inclusive process.
Akol was removed as transport minister in October 2025 by President Salva Kiir after serving five months in the post.
A long-time critic of President Salva Kiir’s leadership, he founded the National Democratic Movement in 2016. He previously led the SPLM-DC after breaking away from the SPLM in 2009 and ran unsuccessfully against Kiir in the 2010 presidential election. Before South Sudan’s independence, he served as Sudan’s foreign minister.
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