The First Vice President, Dr. Riek Machar, affirmed that the SPLM-IO is ready to participate in the forthcoming election.
Machar met with the Ambassador of the United States to South Sudan, Michael Adler, on Tuesday to discuss the progress of the revitalised peace agreement and the upcoming general elections.
The Office of the First Vice President posted a statement revealing that the second in command emphasised the need for all the necessary prerequisites for elections to be met.
Just like in his previous meeting with the Head of UNMISS, Mr Nicholas Haysom, Machar said that it could take the completion of pending tasks for the country to conduct a credible poll.
He said there is a need to complete the security arrangements, repatriate refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) to their areas of origin, conduct a national census to delineate and determine the boundaries of electoral constituencies, establish a permanent constitution, and ensure the availability of funds for electoral activities.
Machar stressed the need for the parties to agree on the middle level of the necessary unified forces to expedite the process of completing the deployment of the second batch (Phase II).
The FVP assured the ambassador of his commitment to fully implement the agreement in both letter and spirit.
On the other hand, Mr. Adler expressed concerns about the slow progress in completing the deployment of the necessary unified forces to ensure politically neutral security forces are in place.
Adler noted that the most necessary steps for the conduct of elections include opening civic space, neutral security forces, funding electoral processes, shunning violence as a tool of political competition, and committing to dialogue.
This is the second time Dr Machar is expressing the SPLM IO readiness for the upcoming election in the country.
Early January Dr. Machar met with the head of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) Nicola Haysom and discussed the election and the humanitarian situation of Sudanese refugees.
