The politics of splits: South Sudan’s parties head to elections divided

South Sudan is approaching its first anticipated general elections since independence, but the closer the country gets to the ballot box, the more its political parties appear to be falling apart. The ruling SPLM, the SPLM-IO, SSOA, OPP, Former Detainees, and other opposition movements have all experienced internal disputes, rival leadership claims, defections and competing factions. This raises a simple but uncomfortable question: If political parties cannot govern themselves democratically, how can they convince South Sudanese that they are ready to govern a country? South Sudan became independent from Sudan in 2011 with enormous expectations. But within two years, the ruling SPLM descended into a political crisis that eventually contributed to the outbreak of civil war in December 2013. President Salva Kiir and his then deputy, Dr.

Riek Machar, became the central figures in that confrontation. Machar was removed from his position as SPLM deputy chairman and vice president alongside other senior officials amid accusations of insubordination and an alleged attempt to challenge Kiir’s leadership. Machar subsequently formed the SPLM-IO, turning what had initially been an internal SPLM disagreement into a broader political and military opposition movement. The 2013 conflict was followed by the 2016 violence, another peace process and eventually the 2018 Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan. Yet the pattern appears to have survived the agreements. South Sudan has repeatedly negotiated peace between political elites without resolving the political culture that keeps producing elite fragmentation. The SPLM-IO: From alternative government to multiple centers of power Perhaps nowhere is this more visible than inside the SPLM-IO. Following the…