South Sudan has postponed its national elections until February 11, 2027, further delaying the country’s first polls since it gained independence in 2011.

The National Elections Commission (NEC) announced the new date in an electoral timetable, moving the presidential and parliamentary elections from their previously scheduled date of December 22.

However, the NEC spokesperson, Josephine Fortelo, told Reuters on Saturday that the revised timetable followed consultations with stakeholders.

“This is the timeline we have come up with after a thorough consultation with the stakeholders,” she said.

The commission did not provide a reason for the latest postponement.

In September, the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan warned that the country lacked the necessary safeguards and conditions for credible polls.

South Sudan has not held a national election since it became independent from Sudan in 2011. Previous attempts to organise the country’s first post-independence polls have been repeatedly delayed.

Although the country has been formally at peace since a 2018 agreement ended a five-year civil war that killed hundreds of thousands of people, violence between rival communities continues to flare in different parts of the country.

The latest postponement adds to the challenges facing South Sudan as it prepares to hold its first national elections since independence.