Sudan People’s Liberation Movement for Democratic Change or SPLM-DC Assistant Secretary-General told government in a public lecture that people are more important than power, asserting that 2015 election is not the priority of citizens.
Mario Biong said during presentation of International Republican Institute or IRI survey for South Sudanese Internally Displaced Persons or IDPs and refugees in Uganda and Kenya that peace is the first priority in crisis.
He observed that previous elections’ candidates were imposed on the people against their will, resulting in things falling apart; warning the said 2015 elections would be worse than the previous one.
He added that a stable state is the most important thing for South Sudanese to feel at home as envisioned during secession referendum in 2011 resulting into independence.
Dr Biong cautioned that it is better to have a state without elections than elections without a state.
He dismissed the argument for government legitimacy, saying it could be done otherwise without elections.
Carr Centre for Human Rights Policy Associate Fellow Zaccharia Diing Akol observed that the need for reconciliation to create peace and harmony as shown by IRI survey is crucial for working out mechanisms for the way forward.