JUBA, Aug. 3 (Xinhua) -- South Sudan on Thursday elected nine representatives to the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) in fresh elections following the June decision by the regional court to throw out the war-torn country's initial members.
Among the newly elected representatives three are women and six men hence fulfilling the crucial gender equality requirement, after competitive elections were conducted as requested in the East African Court of Justice (EACJ) decision.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Mawien Makol said in Juba that the election process has been free and credible within terms of the EALA.
"The elections have been this time free and credible within standards of the EALA," he said.
This came after President Salva Kiir's decree in March appointing the nine members from mostly his ruling Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) was challenged by a South Sudanese lawyer Wani Santino Jada, who secured an interim court order in the EACJ withdrawing the nine on the basis of their election disenfranchising other smaller opposition parties.
South Sudan is the newest member of the East African Community (EAC) a regional economic bloc of six countries like Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi.
Article 50 of the EAC treaty grants the National Assembly of each member state to elect nine members of the Assembly from various political parties represented in the National Assembly.
