South Sudan plans to hold general elections on December 22, 2026, its first since independence. President Salva Kiir has repeatedly insisted the elections will proceed on that date.
The National Elections Commission announced voter registration would begin in early November 2026, leaving less than two months before polling day. The country faces three major obstacles to completing electoral preparations.
South Sudan has no existing national electoral register. The electoral authorities must still register voters, verify the register, confirm candidates, prepare ballot papers and organize polling across the country. The National Elections Commission plans to register voters manually using paper registration books before entering information into computer systems. Thousands of staff need training by October 2026, though ensuring quality of the process will be a challenge.
Around 2.5 million people are internally displaced while more than 2.3 million refugees live in neighboring countries like Kenya and Uganda. Poor roads and seasonal flooding make many communities difficult to reach. The electoral commission appears to be planning to accept confirmation of people's identities through community chiefs to enable those without valid documents to participate.
The country's population of 12.5 million, with 80 percent living in rural areas, is widely dispersed across 10 states and three administrative areas.
A second obstacle involves candidate nominations. Those seeking elective seats must obtain written endorsements from registered voters. Only once candidates are confirmed can final ballot papers be prepared and distributed across a country where ordinary transport remains difficult.
The third obstacle concerns the legal framework. President Kiir signed an amendment to the National Elections Act on September 21, 2026, finalizing polling procedures, political constituencies and parliament's size. However, the final signed text has not been made publicly available to stakeholders involved in the election process, leaving uncertainty about precise requirements governing several stages.
The ruling SPLM party is conducting internal primaries to select aspirants. Hundreds of candidates have submitted applications for nominations from parliamentary to governorship seats. The primaries have generated allegations of manipulation and disputes over candidate selection in several places, and the process adds pressure to an already compressed electoral calendar since candidates cannot complete formal nomination applications before their party decides nominees.
South Sudan has postponed elections repeatedly since its 2018 peace agreement. Elections originally scheduled for December 2022 were pushed to 2024, then to 2026 because of delays implementing peace agreement provisions like constitutional reforms and security arrangements, which remain unfulfilled.
In September 2026, a constitutional amendment removed the requirement to complete the permanent constitution and population census before holding elections. President Kiir then dissolved transitional government and legislative institutions, replacing them with caretaker arrangements. This changed the political landscape from previous postponements, which had preserved the transitional power-sharing institutions.
The presidency has invested considerable political authority in the December deadline. The SPLM leadership has insisted that general elections will be held at all levels. With parliament dissolved, the institutional route toward another political extension is more complicated.
One possibility is a technical postponement providing additional time for registration and candidate nomination while maintaining the political commitment to conducting general elections. Another possibility is technical staging, where different electoral contests like for the presidency or parliamentary seats could be held several months apart while remaining within one general election process. The legal basis for such arrangements remains uncertain.
Strong public support among South Sudanese favors elections proceeding. The difficulty is providing electoral authorities more time without reopening the political transition or abandoning the commitment to elections.