Category: South Sudan

February 11, 2010 (Khartoum) — 1. Yesterday, 8/2/2010, the National Supreme Court decided to dismiss on procedural grounds the objection deposited before it by the SPLM-DC to the nomination of General Salva Kiir Mayardit to the office of President of the Government of Southern Sudan. A translation of the decision of the Court is attached. It did not look into the substance of the objection. The essence of its decision was that the objection should have been decided upon by the National Elections Commission.

2.The SPLM-DC had on 5/2/2010 deposited the said objection to the National Elections Commission on the grounds that: (1) General Salva Kiir is still an active officer in the SPLA which is recognized in Article 144(1) as a national organized force which members are prohibited by Article 12(2)(a) of the Political Parties Act 2007 from involvement in politics, and (2) his attestation as part of the nomination requirements to respect the Comprehensive Peace Agreement is not valid since in practice he was violating the same. A copy of the objection document is attached.

3. The background to the objection is that the High Elections Committee for Southern Sudan in Juba in compliance with Article 45 (1 and 2) of the National Elections Act 2008 read together with Article 10(1 and 2) of the General Elections Rules 2009, published on 29/1/2010 the list of the nominations to the office of President of the Government of Southern Sudan, and made it public that the parties concerned may raise objections on Form (11) to any nomination within seventy two hours from the date of publication above.

4. The SPLM-DC did make the objection which it handed to the National Elections Commission on the 1^st of February 2010 so that the Commission could decide on it in accordance with Article 10(3) of the General Elections Rules 2009. The Chairman of the Commission, Mr Abel Alier, wrote to the SPLM-DC on the 2^nd of February advising that it may, if it wished, “complain/appeal to the National Supreme Court which has established a special court in Khartoum, to look into complaints/appeals on nominations”. A copy of this letter is attached.

5. The SPLM-DC replied back on the same day stressing that the decision was within the competence of the Commission and not the Court as is clearly stipulated in Article 45 of the Act and Article 10 of the Rules. The SPLM-DC enclosed a letter which Mr. Abel Alier had written secretly and without the knowledge of the other members of the Commission on 21/1/2010 to General Salva Kiir Mayardit advising that he may nominate himself or be nominated by others. Abel’s letter which is self-explanatory is attached. In its reply to the Commission’s letter the SPLM-DC explained that Abel’s letter was based on false information given to him by Minister Dr Luka Biong Deng that General Salva Kiir was retired from the SPLA by the late Dr John Garang in May 2007(sic) and that the objection provided facts questioning this false information on the matter. The SPLM-DC’s letter to the Chairman of the Commission dated 2/2/2010 is attached.

6. The Commission did not reply the last SPLM-DC’s letter and the party had no option but to resort to the National Supreme Court on 5/2/2010 as advised by the Chairman of the Commission above.