Three candidates from South Sudan have withdrawn from today’s election for the next speaker of the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA).
Presiding over the first meeting of the 5th assembly, the parliament clerk, Alex Obatre revealed that two candidates withdrew from the race on Sunday and another withdrew this morning. The three are; Dr. Ann Itto, Gai Deng Nhial and Gideon Gatpan.
This leaves Burundi’s Joseph Ntakarutimana as the only candidate in the race who has been subsequently nominated.
However, Obatre says he has to be subjected to a secret ballot as per the rules of procedure to meet the two-thirds majority of the vote.
In 2017, Burundi and Rwanda competed for the Speaker’s post at the regional assembly but the outgoing Speaker Martin Ngoga won the race.
Burundi then filed a case at the East African Court of Justice saying that the elections did not meet the quorum as members from Burundi and Tanzania boycotted the election.
