The world's youngest country has been waiting to elect its representatives since gaining independence from Sudan in 2011. After a devastating civil war between sworn enemies Salva Kiir and Riek Machar between 2013 and 2018, a peace agreement established a government of national unity.
But the country remains paralyzed by power struggles and the end of this “transition” has regularly been postponed. International partners - including the UN, the African Union, the "troika" which sponsored independence (United States, United Kingdom, Norway) - continue to call for elections.