CPSS Calls for Broader Political Settlement Before Elections
The Communist Party of South Sudan says the current inter-party dialogue is too narrow and argues that security, constitutional and political questions must be resolved through an inclusive process.
JUBA — Joseph Wol Modesto Ukelo is the CPSS general secretary. In an executive-summary page supplied to South Sudan Press, the Communist Party of South Sudan (CPSS) argues that the current government-led Inter-Party Dialogue cannot produce a legitimate national consensus if principal opposition constituencies are excluded, marginalized or represented by substitutes.
The party says it supports dialogue but rejects what it describes as a narrow process focused mainly on a path to elections. It proposes a wider political settlement covering constitutional, security and socioeconomic conditions before a credible vote. These are CPSS positions, not findings independently established by South Sudan Press.
- A genuinely inclusive and impartial political process with consequential outcomes.
- Security-sector unification and reform, a census and a permanent constitution.
- Predictable financing for electoral institutions and protection of political and civic freedoms.
- Return and reintegration of refugees and internally displaced people, and resolution of political and legal disputes.
Its criticism of the transition
The CPSS says delays, unilateral institutional changes, political fragmentation, the removal of opposition legislators and the dismantling of the power-sharing arrangement have weakened the political space created by the 2018 peace agreement. It also argues that the continued detention and judicial proceedings against First Vice President Dr Riek Machar have narrowed meaningful participation.
The party presents elections as essential to democratic government, while arguing they should follow a credible settlement rather than serve as a substitute for resolving the transition’s disputes. It does not, in the supplied executive-summary page, provide a dated alternative election timetable or a detailed mechanism for convening the wider process.
Regional context and unanswered questions
The position arrives as the AU’s C5 Plus meeting reaffirmed the 2018 agreement as the transition framework and called for a feasible, consensual and time-bound electoral roadmap. The CPSS’s specific demands are its own; similarity with regional calls for inclusiveness does not mean the AU endorsed this party’s proposal.
South Sudan Press will seek the complete CPSS document, its date and signatories, the proposed convening authority and participant rules for any broader process, and a response from the caretaker administration and organizers of the Inter-Party Dialogue. The question is whether a process can address these disputes while maintaining a clear, publicly accountable path to elections.
The image shows page 1 of an executive summary. The full statement, signature page and issue date were not supplied; this report describes only the material available here.