This paper was written by Jan Pospisil and Hames Kunhiak Mourwel for Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) South Sudan.

This paper explores the conditions under which elections scheduled for December 2026 could meaningfully contribute to stability, inclusion, and South Sudan’s broader political transition. Informed by ongoing dialogue, practical observation and
opinion polling, it shows that national elections are widely regarded as necessary to restore political legitimacy and provide an endpoint to the prolonged transitional period established under the Revitalised Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan (R-ARCSS) – even amid widespread awareness of election-related risks, which highlights a disconnect between popular expectations and institutional readiness. The authors posit that elections in December 2026 remain a possibility, but only if minimum political consensus is restored, legal ambiguities are resolved through targeted amendments, the capacity of the National Election Commission (NEC) is strengthened across states, and civic and political space is protected as a functional condition of electoral credibility.

Read the paper here.