# Election Date Set for 22 December (2026)

URL: https://allhistories.com/south-sudan/timeline/2026-election-date-set-for-22-december
Location: Juba, Central Equatoria
Themes: main-event

South Sudan had never held a general election since independence in 2011; the last national vote in the territory was the Sudanese general election of 2010, followed by the independence referendum of January 2011. The polls promised under the 2015 and 2018 peace agreements had been postponed repeatedly, most recently in September 2024. On 22 June 2026 the chairperson of the National Elections Commission, Abednego Akok Kacuol, announced in Juba that the general elections would be held on 22 December 2026, in line with the National Elections Act and the extended transitional period. He said an election security body had been formed, but warned of legal gaps and the need for urgent government funding, and promised a detailed electoral calendar. Voter registration, expected to last about a month, had still not begun by late September 2026, and on 15 September Kiir replaced Akok with the commission's former secretary-general, Gabriel Bol Deng Majok. Observers, including civil-society groups and the UN, warned that the absence of a census, voter register and permanent constitution, ongoing fighting and Machar's trial threatened the credibility of the vote, and that another postponement remained possible. At this point in the timeline (22 June 2026), the President of the Republic of South Sudan was Salva Kiir Mayardit (9 July 2011 – present).

## Why it matters
Setting the date started the formal countdown to South Sudan's first post-independence elections, amid deep doubts over their feasibility.

Ruler at the Time: [Salva Kiir Mayardit](https://allhistories.com/south-sudan/rulers/salva-kiir-mayardit)

## Sources
- [Wikipedia — 2026 South Sudanese general election](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_South_Sudanese_general_election)
- [The Sudan Times — Elections set for 22 December](https://thesudantimes.com/sudan/south-sudan-sets-december-22-for-long-awaited-general-elections/)
- [National Elections Commission of South Sudan](https://nec.gov.ss/news/)
- [Radio Tamazuj](https://www.radiotamazuj.org/en)
- [Wikipedia — Revitalised Peace and Transition (period overview)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revitalised_Transitional_Government_of_National_Unity)