Analyst calls election law changes ‘parliamentary coup’

South Sudan’s parliament has effectively dismantled the power-sharing arrangements underpinning the country’s transitional government by passing controversial amendments to the election law, political analyst Abraham Awolich said, describing the move as a “parliamentary coup” that could usher in one-man rule.

Parliament passed the National Elections Act amendment on Monday, and President Salva Kiir signed it into law hours later. The changes allow the incumbent president to remain in office with full constitutional powers throughout the election period and empower him to relieve the first vice president and other vice presidents and dissolve the transitional government within three months of the December 22 election.

Awolich, a former managing director of the Sudd Institute and co-founder of the People’s Coalition for Civil Action (PCCA), said the changes undermined the power-sharing structure established by the 2018 peace agreement that brought opposition leader Riek Machar and other political groups into government.