South Sudan has postponed its first presidential and parliamentary elections from December 22, 2026, to February 11, 2027, under a revised National Elections Commission calendar.
No reason was given for the latest delay to voting since independence in 2011.
Commission spokesperson Josephine Achiro Fortelo told Reuters the date followed consultations with stakeholders.
"This is the timeline we have come up with after a thorough consultation with the stakeholders," she said.
Voter registration runs from November 14 to 28, with the provisional register due November 29.
Commission chair Gabriel Bol Deng said 3,161 centres and 22,127 recruited officials would serve the registration operation, Eye Radio reported.
He said materials had reached regional capitals but not individual sites.
Traditional leaders will help applicants without identity documents complete registration forms.
Candidate nominations run from December 14 to 20, followed by campaigning from December 27 to February 9.
The commission schedules final results for February 15, publication the next day and election disputes through July 15.
The new polling date is just 11 days before South Sudan's transitional period is due to end on February 22, 2027, according to a 2024 agreement published by the election commission.
That agreement originally envisaged voting in December 2026, leaving about two months for the transfer to an elected administration.
The revised calendar does not explain how potential disputes continuing beyond February would affect the transition.
An African Union Peace and Security Council statement in August called for the transition to end in February without further extensions.
UN human rights investigators warned in September that safeguards for credible, peaceful elections were lacking.
President Salva Kiir dissolved the power-sharing transitional government in September.
Former vice president Riek Machar remains detained and on trial on charges including treason, which he denies.
South Sudan's deputy UN ambassador Sabino Amaikwey told the Security Council earlier this month elections were essential to consolidating peace.
A 2018 agreement ended five years of civil war that killed around 400,000 people, although armed clashes and communal violence have continued.