Radio Miraya
2714: Democracy in Action. The Electoral Process and the Participation of Citizens
Hello and welcome to Democracy in Action. My name is Saneemarti and you are coming to life from Juba. This is Sasti and today we are going to be looking at the electro process and the participation of citizens and also educating you on how the electro process is done and we have experts here in the studio who are going to be telling us more about this process and giving the inside story on all what we are going to be sharing and our lines will be open to you later on where you can call on 0912069 or 091206950 or you can send us a comment or question to our SMS number 0912177141 those are all our contacts you can get in touch with us here during our discussion today on democracy in action I have two of my guests right here I have me Juma Maburo Mariel who is the executive director of African leadership and the reconciliation ministry known as Alam good morning and welcome to Red Mary and I also have Kostas Gaili right yes okay and she is the deputy chief of the United Nation integrated electro assistant team here and she will be telling us more about it you are most welcome to Red Mary thank you Sanyan good morning to the audience okay first of all Mr Juma let us begin with you here the country is now most of the talks in the town and in most parts of the country is election we have heard from the top readers here first of all what is your general overview or this preparation for the for the upcoming election in December 2024 thank thank you Sanyan the listeners really appreciate the opportunity to share with you this morning in this critical topic of our time and then the right time to discuss and let people understand the dynamics about elections and I really appreciate the fact that the country now is having the conversation around election and election and election everywhere you goes to it is all about election it is a bit complicated to have a strict forward answer on what my position or my evaluation of the election can be because there are still a lot of conversation going on among the political parties and especially the parties to the agreement but what is important to note especially by the citizen of this country and all of us is that there is a roadmap that ends with the election and the transition that end with the election so at the end of it we must all understand that election is the end point of the transitional period and therefore whatever happen in between year we must be able to address our salary to that end so to come back to your question the political parties are engaging in dialogue and I think for the part three days or the two days the president of South Africa Sarir of Muposa is in the country okay and he's having conversation with the principal to the agreement and another political parties to the agreement to discuss on how best they can be able to approach the election as the transitional period turn and we hope that the discussion is going to realize and we shall be able to look at how best we can be able to carry the election at the end of the day okay yes because the UN here is a partner in peace building and that's what people know the mission for what role can the international organization more special day enemies and the other donor partners can play in supporting electoral reforms and capacity building efforts in this country the UN has established an integrated electoral assistance team which composed two main components are UNMIS and UNDP but we also have on board UN Women and UNESCO and we're working closely with other components of both the UNMIS and country team the specific mandate of the integrated electoral assistance team is that to support in this first phase of the of the processed enabling environment and I would say that critical to that is support the nascent institution like obviously the national election commission but also working with the political party council in building the institution so that is electoral institutions are critical in general for the specific conduct of elections but as a means of building trust in the process so this is what we are focusing on right now okay and just a follow-up from why you have just stopped we we wanted to find that from you it was announced last week by the commission at the national election commission that they will be moving to the states to also book some kind of a system to what extent is enemies involved in this visit to the states what kind of support are you offering to the commission we work in partnership with the neck and so the neck establish its priorities and we provide advice in terms of comparative experience and try to tailor good practice to the context of South Sudan to this end one of the priorities that the national election commission has announced for the past couple of weeks is institution building to this end following the legal framework there is a requirement to reestablish the state and administrative areas committees which are the operational arms of the national election commission for the actual implementation of elections in this field so to this end umis and and UNDP so the integrated team is in close partnership with the European Union we are supporting by you know with our organization bases in the field with flights because obviously yeah it's a big challenge and so the visit started on Sunday it was a very rainy sorry I apologize on Monday 15th of April it was a very rainy day so some of the flights have been rescheduled but thankfully the the delegations have reached their destinations and they are you know with a double focus of setting up its own institutions but also engaging which is also a priority for the national election commission engaging with political parties and civil society in order to create disenabling environments so we are partnering with with neck on these visits okay before we hear from Duma also one very important component which the listeners out there have already heard about and it will be very important for you to shed more light it was also announced by the spokesperson of the commission the national election commission that they are going to establish their own website and this website is going to help in giving out accurate information and they are saying that you and miss is one of the partners supporting them in establishing this website yes that is correct and again I would like to point out that the establishment of the the website is again one of the key elements in terms of the institution building as a means of communication that transcends even the borders of South Sudan and we'll be able to reach South Sudanese citizens outside the country we are partnering on that as a nascent institution the national election commission has asked for support in terms of you know the technical specifications and the development of the website so we are engaging in conversations obviously and based on the requirements of the national election commission both on the graphics of the of the website and the technical development from the ICT point of view right and Juma what are their roles or what are their rights and the responsibilities of South Sudanese those who are eligible according to our law should be 18 and above right yes what are the roles of this South Sudanese who are from 18 and above in the electoral process and even beyond the voting yeah as a citizen you have responsibilities and you also have the right in any process including the election process and one of the rights of the citizen of South Sudan is for them to be registered so that they can be able to vote and be voted for in any elections that come about and they can do this one in such a way that they are free to do so without being politically intimidated or being politically influenced they can also be able to ask any information just like what we are doing now if the political parties councils are doing the registration of the political parties the citizen have the right to know how to register a political parties such that if they have the capacity to do so they can also be able to go and register their political parties and they can also go to the electoral commission and ask about the process they are right it is their right to go there and ask about how far the process are and what is required of them and citizen of this country because that is part of their democratic right and they also can receive any information about the registration and ideas for example most of the South Sudanese now do not have ideas they are 18 years and above the national ideas the digital ideas and you know you cannot register as a voter without a national ID so it is also about time when people are talking about election then South Sudanese who is over 18 years and above should be able now to start getting a national ID so that it can facilitate their registration as voters and then they can also be able to get to know what type of voting they are going to do because voter education is very important and it is their right to receive such information before it is too late because at the end of the day people may be unable to understand how the voting system goes and I think these are all of all of us to start enlightening people about their rights that they are able to understand what their right are but in time of responsibility also they are also supposed to come arise themselves with their political system you know what is the political system it is also done you will start reading about the concentration even the election act and the rest of the thing so you have a duty as a citizen to come arise yourself with some of these things and then know where you are supposed to be voting you know most of us are in juba and maybe i'm registered in leg state so that should be my polling location so that i'm able to understand that when the election start i will not just be voting in juba i'll have to go to leg state or if i have registered in juba i should not be in leg state when it is time for a poverty so these are some of the right and responsibility that the citizen should be able to know and i think this required a lot of civic education and awareness now they in your opinion do you think the parties and the partners including you should embark on serious awareness not people absolutely it means the time that you should start and it should have even started a long time ago not even now because we are barely eight months away from the election so this one should be studied immediately even if it has not started okay yes uh because from your international expertise uh what are the key principles that should guide the electoral process and how can they be upheld in real terms or in a practical manner well the the principles for elections are enshrined in the universal declarations of human rights i don't want to use big words but basically the simple concept is that it is the will of the people that is the basis for authority of government so this is a very clear principle that is enshrined in the human in the universal declaration human rights it is again explained in more details in the u.n. covenant for civil and political rights and in other uh regional instruments on the continent here and in other parts of the world in practice this means that citizens have the right to periodic and genuine elections to universal um suffrage and equal suffrage and the secrecy of the votes this in practice translating major responsibility from the electoral administration but other parties in the actors in the process to ensure that the process is transparent inclusive fair and has integrity and that is really critical i would like to to really focus on on two aspects here the fact that the integrity the integrity and all the other principles are based on the implementation of the existing legal framework so all the actors should really work to implement that legal framework that ensures all the principles that i just listed and then on the side but equally important is the environment the environment has to be enabling a full participation of citizens right and um juma uh this expected election is uh if it happens uh will be the first of its kind since sousdan uh 10 it's independent and also it's going to be a post-conflict um election how can this uh electoral process contribute to reconciliation and peace building effort yeah elections uh by the nature are in strategies for promoting democracy and since 2005 and coming to 2010 sousdan has never had the opportunity because of the difference of consensus to whole elections and therefore it will be an opportunity for the sousdan is now to excise their uh rights of electing their own leaders yeah in 2010 uh we were discussing with Conda Sayalia before we came to the institute that every election happened for a reason uh the one in 2010 happened for the referendum and it did not give us a lot of opportunity as sousdan is to decide on who our leaders should be we were electing the referendum representative said that they can take us across the river and indeed it happened and it happened successfully now this election will be an opportunity for sousdan is to elect their own representative after having studied them and see that these are the people that can be able to represent them and it can bring a conduction of different tribe to even choose one that do not belong to their communities for example if you look at Yuba is a metropolitan uh consistency whereby if any MP is time for Yuba consistency all of us from across sousdan are going to vote for that particular representative regardless of which tribes it comes from so therefore it will be an opportunity for sousdan is one to excise their democratic right and then also be able to cross on their political uh areas and affiliation on who they really won and then also elections can help the citizen to express their expectation you know the political parties will come out and give their manifestos and and they will now enter into the the contract you know they call it the social contract principle whereby they will now be able to negotiate with their leaders there are political leaders on what they would want to be done and that negotiation will not be based on an empty ground you know people will have to come together regardless of where they come from and that in itself would be able to reconcile and of course the election will end the transition because you have seen the government being divided along party lines and tribal lines and the rest of the thing so when the election is done the citizen will be able to choose people that will represent them on the principle of democracy not because they come from the tribe and the rest of the thing okay so i think that will be a basis for a consolation for the country right and uh has the deputy chief for the united nation integrated electoral uh assistant team here in duper what lesson do you think can be learned from post conflict elections both successfully endorsed that had some challenges to promote democracy and peace in south of them i i would say of the 25 years or 24 25 years of working in in support of over two decades and a half yes that means i'm not that young anymore i i really had the honor to to work a little bit across the the planet and one thing i i think we can learn as a lesson that it is the political and collective will of the country to move from a conflictual situation to a long lasting peace and democratic systems that it's really the drive of a success or non-success of an electoral process the electoral process per se is a key element it's a necessary element once a country decided to to go that way but i think that something that we tend to forget is what comes after elections really determines sustainable peace that means the behavior of those that uh take office through the electoral process and the ability to create a system of governance that is sustainable and i'm thinking specifically i will not mention countries in respect of you know uh of the people of those countries and but the judiciary the establishment of a robust judiciary system seems to to me and in the analysis that the UN has done uh through during the past decade as that is essential the establishment of robust uh security forces system also very important education and in general accountability of government because we have to remember that you know one of the principles as we said at the beginning of the of our discussion is that elections in order to be uh to be really significant need to be periodic and not only genuine right and uh any of you can answer this question uh you can maybe come in juma later on oh uh first of all um we have these uh certified percent affirmative action that is also enshrined in the agreement uh in the context of social water measures do you think can be implemented to increase the participation of youth women and also the marginalized group in the electoral process both has uh voters like you earlier on said those who are 18 and above can also be uh a candidate or you can be a voter yeah i came across when i was doing some of the research that we did about the women involvement in the electoral process at the governor system i came through a research written by young it's also the news lady in fact there are two of them all young women in political institutions it's also done yeah and they titled it lesson learned from leave experience this problem and we are not here anibalova where they say in order for uh uh women to be highly involved with and even the young women there need to be support in civic engagement said that uh in schools in universities and community instructors and then they also invest in probabilistic democratic multipatic system and this call for the involvement of women at all the party levels because some young ladies based on our cultural practices are prevented from even being members of the political parties and if you are not a member of the political party you cannot be able to even contest in the election so these young women are also advocating for the involvement of young people in the political instructors of the country and also building a lens with different institutions like that they are promoted and of course the young people our laws legal framework from the universal declaration of mumera to the concentration to the political parties act and even the election act they are very clear on the minimum age of participating in the election if you are from a team and above you start uh participating you can agree with me sunday you and i can even contest for presidency in this country because when you are 40 years and above you can contest as a governor you can contest as a president and then from 21 years you can contest as an MP so i i think these are open opportunity for the youth and young people and the women to start participating and the good news is that in the political parties act and also in the election act there are provision for specific percentages like the 35 percent the issues of a positive action and the parties so all these representation can bring on board the youth the women and even other marginalized group in participating in the political electoral process all right if you have just joined us right now you are listening to democracy natural my name is sanny martin and in the studio i have two of my guests you can call and ask your question on 0 9 1 2 0 6 20 79 or 0 9 1 2 0 6 29 50 or you can send us your question to our sms number 0 9 1 2 1 7 7 1 4 1 those are all our contacts you can get in touch with us here as we discuss the electoral process looking at the civic education and all these and we do have a couple of questions coming in by our sms number this one here is coming from james james is asking his question to the analyst team constants and he says what are some of the challenges and means and other partners who are willing to support the electoral process in this country what do you foresee in terms of logistic given that some parts of the country are still engulfed by flood so this is coming from james the ban and another sms here is going to juma it's coming from dang in tomping here in juba he says what can be done according to you i believe you are from the civil society group what can be done to ensure that we have a free fair election that will be accepted by all parties and even recognize internationally given our differences in terms of the way thousands understand politics another sms here is asking juma again it's from mariel yeah mariel in rumbaix is yes juma you're most welcome to read mariel it's good to hear your voice today and he says you are aware about the sub-national violence or intercomino conflict taking toll in the lives of people in this country some areas and cannot be accessed by many people at the moment now because of the intercomino conflict what extent do you think this can impact on the conduct of a free fair and democratic election come December 2024 these are the three questions let's begin with the questions the challenges animus farsi okay good morning james thank you for the question so i mean you're right on the spot one of the challenges that um south sudan has is the logistics of the operation um the elections are one of the the largest um logistic operation that the country takes at times of peace and the level of infrastructure the terrain the climatic conditions make the the election process very challenging we've seen it in the past i have the honor to serve here during the referendum and here in juba and in order to overcome these challenges i think the solution is a clear uh joint effort from the government the election commission and international partners in proper planning and then implementation so planning i think it's the key to overcome or minimize the challenges and i would like to take the opportunity now to quote uh nelson mandela that i used to say it is always it always seems impossible until it is done so i am confident that when all the parties in the actors come together in south sudan with a clear determination of uh supporting the national election commission in in its mandate to implement elections and the international community continues supporting i think it can be done but it will remain challenging so planning planning planning okay yes uh jima you have two questions this inter-communal or sub-national violence to what extent do you think it will have a negative effect on the conduct of the election and also another question is what can be done to ensure that you have a free fair election that can be accepted by all parties and everybody and also recognized or accepted international by our friends and partners thank you den and mariel for your questions i think they are very much similar in nature except the inter-communal aspect of it but the question is the credibility and the fairness of the election and my colleague uh contact us already talk about the principle that guide the elections and when you interpret this principle in details they would include how you sub-guide the election how you oversee how you do a lot of enforcement because election is a contested practice and therefore there will be a diversities in the election when it comes to the conclusion and especially in and building the results for example when one contestant is contesting again the other and the other one laws there should be sub-guide on what need to be done for example you have to have the court system whereby people have to go to courts and then they can determine the issues that are brought before them so that is one way of determining the pre-fair and credible election but when it comes to the inter-communal violence now that is why people are talking about the prerequisite for the election in terms of security establishment whereby there need to be stable security environment when people are going out for election there will be no intimidation there will be no violent and people can be able to excite that democratic rights through voting without any intimidation or fear of threat or intimidation so i think these all going back to the electoral commission on how they are making their rule of conduct how they are doing the the the putting the ethical procedures in place and then it also goes to the government because the election apart from being a people driven process is also a government project and so that the government can put in place security measures and these are is where the ministry of interior the information i have with that the military of in ministry of interior is putting in place security measures for electoral processes so i think the issues of inter-communal violence have been very perennial in this country and there is need for all the political actors and even the security institution to ensure that the country is stabilized before you go to december we are in 2024 if you are to do a peaceful, credible and fair election is and more is in topping here in jubah is i appreciate the topic today and i would like to thank the two guests in the studio they're very eloquent i have understood most of the things i've said and this is my question goes to the enemies guests in the studio and he's he's asking um we know that uh uh civic education i've noticed started and the government at the moment is having challenges in terms of finance to what extent will unmute support the national election commission in terms of civic education for the electoral process that's for more is in jubah here and then another question is coming from uh okay non-name but do write your name please at the end of your question and uh since my question is going to the executive director of alam and they say is uh uh juma you are fully aware about the issue of a civic space which is one of the major challenges at the moment now uh what in your capacity are you doing to advocate for civic space so that people can freely participate and exercise that democratic right has enshrined in our laws yes uh let's begin with the constant yes thank you maris for your question um i believe it is now very clear because the national election commission has been repeating this uh for the past two months since their appointment in mid uh the beginning of uh January that civic and voter education is one of the foundation of this process and and for the for meaningful participation of of citizens and this falls also under phase one of the support that the UN is is providing to neck and and other actors so it is true that you are not seeing uh you know posters and and you know messaging around this is because neck is preparing for that and you know even even for a voter education campaign we have to be strategic develop a strategy a plan and then move forward to implementation so this is happening uh and and we are supporting together with other partners there is uh like uh from Japan there is a face and another partner so we're agreeing up and and we are actually already supporting this you remember earlier we were talking about uh the website this is also something that it's at heart of neck and will contribute to um disseminating proper information so neck is the sorry the acronym the national election commission is working on this and there are already uh meetings that have been held with civil society engagement with civil society in order for uh the national election commission to actually have a comprehensive and inclusive strategy and plan so that the voices of uh women persons with disabilities and other vulnerable groups are invited are included in the process so it is ongoing and it will be more apparent i hope when the time comes yes very soon very soon all right maybe like you said people have not been seeing billboards and people moving around and campaign more than always we hope when the time comes people will be saying yes juma there was this question of about uh you are all in ensuring that uh there is a civic space for people to participate freely and exercise the democratic right has enshrined in the constitution yeah i think the question of uh civic space has been sufficient every time there are discussion about election and other democratic processes and i think it's not only about civic but also political space whereby some of the political parties are complaining that they are not being granted the opportunity to interact with some of their consequences and i think these are an opportunity for all the political leaders and the government to ensure that this question is addressed because if you have a civic engagement meeting where you want to enlighten people about elections or the electoral laws or the procedures why would you need a permission from a natural security or the police to to do that because you are a preseason and you are going to talk about some of the democratic principle that are guiding this country so as a civil society i'm one of the core members of the civil society forum and just last month we had a very big conversation with different political actors and we addressed this issue of the civic space such that people that need to meet and discuss anything democratic anything that is not against the law should not be restricted and we are continuing to engage the authorities on why they should not be able to limit the freedom of association because these are all is stipulated in the bill of right and that is a major chapter about our constitution and also in our international n-term and which also done as rectified like the universal declaration of human rights so therefore it is imperative as members of the civil society that as we get closer to the political process which is election we are urging once again all the political actors and the authorities to ensure that people are given the freedom to freely discuss some of their political issues and they can be able to make political decision without any fear or weather okay and as we conclude our discussion i would like to find out from your opinion give me your way about the electricity rate in this country and if much is not done by the concerned bodies many South Sudanese who are eligible to vote will get a lot of confusion or they will be confused what do you think should be done to simplify the messages so that it goes direct the people to avoid confusion at the end of the day because i am sure during voting the there will be a lot of confusion a lot what do you think the the neck your advice down the neck and other partners can do to really make sure the message as simple and straight to the citizens yeah the next task to open it gets to all the people that can support them technically because we for civic indication and civic engagement to be comprehensive you need to bring on board people that can help you in the benefit different methodologies that can be used to reach as many people as possible because look for example they disabled there are those who are physically and mentally in fact and they have the same right as other ordinary citizens to participate in the election so they will need people that can help them to develop those kind of approaches those kind of methodologies that can be used if you are an illiterate person our best can be in population be relate to you so that it can help you to vote in the election when the election comes so it needs cooperation from the electoral commission and also from the international partners to provide all the assistance that is required to facilitate the voting of the people that are illiterate okay and concerns from your vast experience between five years and above and you are still counting what lesson can also then learn from countries that has gone through conflict connected election and made it successful what can South Sudan learn from them I think South Sudan should be looking at again I know I sound like a broken record but you know the basic principles that Juma also listed before look at positive examples the will the you know political collective will and setting a common goal and you know entering the political dynamics with following code of conduct there was there's a discussion ongoing right now among political parties on the voluntary code of conduct those are those are the elements it's it's real and you know this conversation is already happening in in South Sudan so the parties should stay focused the population should be involved as we said and as Juma recognized the importance of involving civil society so it's not a special recipe it's playing by the books and and making sure that everything is done for the people to to establish this much needed sustainable piece all right thank you so much that's it you have for today and we hope to be talking to you all the time for your awareness to our people I would like to thank my two guests here Juma up your maria who is the executive director of african leadership and reconciliation ministry thank you so much for coming to our studio and also co-stars thank you and the deputy chief of the integrated electro system of the united nation i also thank you so much for coming thank you son