South Sudan parties fail to nominate MPs
Saturday February 22 2020
South Sudan's Riek Machar and President Salva Kiir shake hands as they make a peace deal in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on September 12, 2018. South Sudan's key peace parties have failed to submit nominations for the 550-member transitional legislative assembly. PHOTO | AFP
South Sudan's key peace parties have failed to submit nominations for the 550-member transitional legislative assembly “over internal disagreements.”
Parties should have presented the names to the National Constitutional Amendment Committee (NCAC) by today, but the Revitalised Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission says only the Former Detainees (FDs) had presented their list by deadline day.
The NCAC says efforts to build consensus on these lists are ongoing.
The failure to nominate candidates for MP posts means key parties could fail to meet the February 22 deadline to create all arms of the transitional government.
The transitional legislative assembly is supposed to pass key legal frameworks during this period such as ratifying the merger of armies, budgetary allocation and laws on administrative issues.
The NCAC has written to President Salva Kiir informing him that the list of nominees is not ready and that NCAC will present it as soon as it is.
Parties were supposed to nominate candidates and also meet legal requirements for youth, gender and special needs. The validated members would then make up a body to act as Parliament for the next three years.
The country had until Saturday February 22 to form the revitalised Transitional Government of National Unity (TGoNU), after the initial deadline was postponed twice.
Following a compromise between the government and various opposition groups, the new government is to comprise of 614 members. These include one president, five vice presidents, 35 ministers, 10 deputy ministers, 550 MPs, 10 governors and three area administrators.