Officials in South Sudan, the world’s youngest state, said on Saturday that its first national election would be postponed, raising new questions about a vote that analysts had already said could not yield a credible result.
The National Elections Commission said in a statement that the presidential and legislative elections, which had been scheduled for Dec. 22, would be held on Feb. 11 instead. The country’s information minister, Ateny Wek Ateny, said the postponement would allow more time to register voters and educate them about the process.
South Sudan has never held a national election. Since gaining independence from Sudan in 2011 after decades of war, it has been ruled by President Salva Kiir, and it has faced seemingly intractable political difficulties.
In 2013, civil war broke out between the government and forces loyal to the main opposition leader, Riek Machar. Under a peace agreement to end the conflict in 2018, Mr. Machar became the vice president in a transitional government.
The upcoming election was supposed to underwrite that agreement. But the peace deal has unraveled since March 2025, when Mr. Machar was placed under house arrest in the capital, Juba, and charged with treason. In recent months, the government has replaced opposition lawmakers with its own supporters and dissolved the unity government.
With Mr. Machar effectively sidelined, there are no credible challengers to Mr. Kiir, who is widely expected to win the presidential election. He has a broad national following, and his party controls state institutions and the news media.
The election faces stark logistical challenges. Civil servants have not been paid in more than a year, and parts of the country are controlled by armed groups, including Mr. Machar’s forces. Thousands of people have died in fighting and attacks on civilians. In March, more than 200 people were killed in a massacre in Unity State near the border with Sudan, according to human rights groups.
“The conditions for credible polls are not currently in place,” the International Crisis Group said in a briefing for the U.N. Security Council this week. “Rushed elections could be a decisive final blow to the 2018 framework and would open the door to a return to sustained large-scale violence.”
Mr. Ateny, the information minister, acknowledged that the government could not gain access to “small parts” of the country, but said the election would be credible.
“It’s not always 100 percent, but it can be good for the sovereignty of the country and it’s good for the mandate of the state,” he said in an interview.
In addition to the violence and civil unrest, South Sudanese have been faced with soaring food prices, drought and flooding. Of the country’s roughly 12 million people, more than 8 million are in need of food assistance, according to the Famine Early Warning Systems Network, a globally recognized monitor of hunger.
