Jersa Kide Barseba, from the Southern Sudan High Elections Committee, explained to SCR News the perquisites candidates have to fulfil in order to stand for election as president of the republic, GoSS president and State Governor.
She said that the candidates must be 40 or over, sound in mind, literate and with a clean crime record.
The candidate to the presidency must be endorsed by 15,000 signatures and deposit 10,000 Sudanese pounds while the candidate to preside the GoSS needs 10,000 signatures and a fee of 5,000 pounds. An aspiring governor needs to deposit 2,000 pounds. The candidates who reach 10 percent of votes will get their money back.
Ms. Kide explained also the conditions a candidate has to fulfil in order to become a member of the parliament at national, southern Sudan and state legislative assemblies.
All must be Sudanese, sound in mind, literate and with no crime on record for the past seven years.
A candidate to the National Assembly pays 100 Sudanese Pounds while a candidate to the Southern Sudan Legislative Assembly needs 50 pounds and for the state assembly 25 pounds.
Ms. Kide said the fee to be paid in order to run either to the presidency or to governorship discriminates against women.
She added that the amount of signatures required to run for those posts does not favour citizens who want to be independent candidates.