South Sudan's Kiir dissolves government, consolidates power ahead of elections

On Tuesday, South Sudan's President Salva Kiir signed a decree that dismantled the country's transitional unity government, removing all vice-presidents, ministers, and local administrators in a single stroke. The move cleared away the power-sharing architecture that had governed the nation since 2018, when a peace agreement ended five years of civil war that killed roughly 400,000 people and displaced millions more. Now, with elections scheduled for December 22, Kiir will remain in office as the sole executive authority until a new president is elected—if elections proceed as planned.

The decree came one day after parliament approved changes to the National Elections Act that made this consolidation legally possible. The revised law allows Kiir to stay in power during the election period and removes the requirement that South Sudan complete a permanent constitution or conduct a national census before voting. These had been longstanding conditions tied to the transition. The national and state assemblies have been dissolved. The judiciary and security institutions remain intact, but the executive branch now consists of a caretaker administration answerable to the president alone.

Elections were originally scheduled for 2022 but have been postponed twice. The 2018 peace deal that Kiir's decree now effectively ends was meant to hold the country together through a transition period while major tasks were completed: drafting a permanent constitution, registering voters, and unifying armed forces loyal to rival factions. None of these have been finished. The new legal framework sidesteps them entirely, allowing the country to move toward elections without resolving the underlying institutional questions that the peace agreement had deemed essential.

The main opposition alliance has rejected the changes outright. Riek Machar, Kiir's longtime rival and leader of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-in-Opposition, remains under house arrest facing charges of treason and murder, which he denies. He will not be able to campaign or organize his party freely during the election period. Last week, Kiir also replaced the head of the elections commission without explanation, installing Gabriel Bol Deng Majok with what state media called a "fresh mandate" to oversee the polls.

Analysts and human rights observers have flagged the danger in what Kiir has done. Michael Wani, a lawyer and former member of the constitution drafting committee, told the AFP news agency that "Kiir will be the only person in power, without vice-presidents, without the executive, without the parliament." Independent analyst Machot Amuom pointed to what he called significant "ambiguity" in the legal changes. "The new law gives the president full powers," Amuom said. "He can decide even not to go for elections for another year or another two years." Amnesty International acknowledged the decree as a step toward holding elections but urged authorities to "ensure that a conducive environment exists for people to vote and stand in elections."

In the capital, Juba, security has tightened around the government complex. Checkpoints and road closures have been established, and security personnel were ordered to remain on heightened alert. The transition unfolds under conditions of restricted movement and heightened surveillance. What began as a peace agreement designed to distribute power among rivals has become, through legal revision and administrative decree, a concentration of authority in a single person's hands. Whether elections actually occur in December, and under what conditions, remains uncertain.