SATURDAY, 31 OCTOBER 2026 · NEWS
Stephen Dhieu Wins Upper Nile SPLM Nomination With 120 Votes
Published accounts identify the winner; the complete signed tally remains important for understanding the result.
MALAKAL — Stephen Dhieu Dau has won the SPLM’s Upper Nile gubernatorial nomination and been declared the party’s state chairperson, according to Eye Radio and state broadcaster SSBC. Both report that he received 120 votes. This is an internal party outcome, not an election to the office of governor.
Eye Radio identifies Gabriel Isaac as runner-up with 38 votes and says he became deputy state chairperson. SSBC describes a congress of 255 delegates. The published Eye Radio list, however, contains individual totals that add to 250. That five-vote difference requires a signed return explaining ballots cast, rejected or otherwise accounted for; it does not by itself demonstrate wrongdoing.
The nomination establishes whom the SPLM intends to put forward. It does not settle the wider contest, the final candidate register or the conditions under which eligible citizens will vote. Readers should keep the party chairpersonship and the public office sought separate.
A complete record would help candidates and members understand the threshold used to declare a winner. Receiving the most votes and receiving an absolute majority are different tests; the applicable party rule should be published rather than inferred from the headline number.
The next useful documents are the certified tally, nomination rules and any record of objections. Publishing these would also reduce the scope for informal accounts to replace an official explanation of the congress’s decisions.
SSP has not independently observed the count or obtained the signed tally. This report attributes the announced result to the two publishers and treats the discrepancy in the published numbers as an accounting question still to be resolved.
Sources and reporting basis
Prepared from available material for this edition. Follow-up questions identify reporting priorities; they have not been sent as requests by SSP.