South Sudan delays first-ever national elections until February 11

South Sudan has postponed its first presidential and parliamentary elections until 11 February, extending a long-running transition that has already been delayed several times. The election commission said the polls, originally due on 22 December, will now take place in February next year. The vote was first expected in 2022, making this the latest setback to a process that has been repeatedly pushed back.

The commission did not give a reason for the decision. Under the new timetable, voter registration is due to begin on 14 November and continue until 28 November. A 45-day campaign period is scheduled to run from 27 December to 9 February, followed by a one-day silence period before polling day.

The delay comes as political and ethnic tensions deepen in the world's youngest country. South Sudan has continued to face violence despite a 2018 peace deal that ended five years of civil war. In September, President Salva Kiir dissolved the transitional unity government and appointed a caretaker administration, a move that allowed the country to move towards elections without first completing a permanent constitution or census.

That decision has drawn concern from analysts and watchdogs, who say it weakened a key power-sharing arrangement and concentrated more authority in Kiir's hands. Yasmin Sooka, chair of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan, said in October that the changes amounted to a constitutional coup through legislative reforms. She also said the country would still need an inclusive political settlement, protection for civilians and institutions capable of preventing further violence.

The election delay matters because South Sudan has never held the national vote it promised after independence from Sudan in 2011. The country's political transition has been shaped by the rivalry between Kiir and detained former Vice President Riek Machar, whose forces fought a civil war from 2013 to 2018 that killed at least 400,000 people. Machar has been under house arrest since last March, accused of crimes against humanity, while his supporters and government forces have been involved in escalating confrontations in recent months.

The wider security picture remains fragile, with ethnic tensions and cattle-rustling battles adding to the instability. The latest postponement leaves open questions about whether the electoral timetable can be met and whether the political environment will be stable enough for a credible vote. It is still unclear whether the delay will ease tensions or deepen them further, and the main issue to watch is whether South Sudan can preserve the transition without renewed conflict.

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