South Sudan’s ruling party, Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) has endorsed President Salva Kiir as its candidate for another term in the country’s delayed election scheduled for the end of 2024.

Kiir has been the country’s only president since it gained independence from Sudan in 2011. South Sudan has since struggled with a five-year civil war and the slow implementation of a peace deal signed in 2018.

In August, 2022, Kiir announced the extension of his transitional government’s time in office for another two years, meaning elections would be held in December 2024.

“The SPLM Political Bureau decided to nominate comrade Salva Kiir Mayardit as the Presidential flag bearer in the national elections at the end of the transitional period. This is a collective decision of the SPLM Political bureau. That tells you we have no candidate other than our chairman in the political bureau.”
Paul Akol Kordit, SPLM’s Deputy Secretary General for political affairs

President Kiir Accepts Party Endorsement

Speaking at the end of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement’s leadership session on Tuesday, December 6, 2022, Kiir accepted the ruling party’s endorsement for the 2024 election.

“We passed through a difficult situation, but we came out and stood together. I have never failed you before; I believe that we will fight together whatever battles that are coming. I accept the nomination to become the flag bearer for the SPLM party in the general elections and I promise you that never again will this country go back to war.”
President Salva Kiir

There have been no other declared candidates for president in 2024, but longtime Kiir rival and former rebel leader, Riek Machar, is expected to contest. Machar is now one of the country’s vice presidents.

Machar walked away from the mainstream ruling party in late 2013 due to bitter disagreements, causing a split in the army that caused the civil war.