From 25 to 27 of October 2023, the Max Planck Foundation conducted its second workshop in a series of workshops on the “The Role of the Judiciary in Elections” for the Judiciary of South Sudan. The workshop, which took place in Juba, gathered 25 Judges from across South Sudan including Wau, Renk, Aweil, Malakal, Torit, Yei and Nimule. This workshop follows a first workshop conducted on this topic by the Foundation in September 2023.
The workshop was opened with the remarks by the Rt. Honorable Chief Justice Chan Reec Madut; HE, Ambassador Timo Olkkonen, EU Ambassador to South Sudan; and Justice Dr. Benjamin Baak Deng, Head of Training of the Judiciary of South Sudan.
Over the course of three days, the workshop participants engaged in lively discussions on the role that the Judiciary plays in electoral dispute settlement based on the National Elections Act, 2012 (Amendment) Act, 2023. During the first day of the workshop, participants were introduced to the concept of free, fair and democratic elections and discussed the past and current legal framework applicable to elections in South Sudan. Subsequently, several sessions were dedicated to electoral dispute settlement during the pre-electoral, electoral and post-electoral phases, both in South Sudan and comparative countries such as Kenya, Ghana, and Nigeria. Finally, on the last day of the workshop, participants were invited to reflect in case studies on questions pertaining to electoral disputes.
The workshop was conducted in the framework of the project ‘Supporting Constitution-Making, Legal Harmonisation and Judicial Reform in South Sudan’, which is being implemented with the generous financial assistance of the European Union.