Tensions Rise as Ruling Party Takes Early Poll Lead

Official results released by the National Electoral Commission so far put John Pombe Magufuli, the presidential candidate of the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi  party in the lead.

Tanzania: Zanzibar's Presidential Candidate Declares Himself Winner

An opposition candidate in Zanzibar on Monday declared himself the winner of the island's presidential election as security agents arrested 191 people during a night raid on opposition tallying centres.

One of those seized was Kenyan, one French and another a Korean.

While Tanzania remained generally calm after the most competitive election since independence, these were some of the signs of tensions as results started trickling on Monday.

Official tallies released on Monday by the National Electoral Commission (NEC) put Dr Pombe Magufuli, the presidential candidate of the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM), in the lead.

Some 23 million Tanzanians were registered to vote and more than half of all voters live in nine major regions of the country.

Mr Lowassa, who ran under the Ukawa Opposition Alliance, accused NEC of selectively releasing results from CCM strongholds and warned that delays in announcing official results could inflame tensions after the arrests of the party's tallying centre officials.

"All they were doing is collating results from polling stations across the country," Mr Lowassa said at a press conference. "We have been incapacitated, all our tallying centres have been raided and the volunteers incarcerated. This is so unfair."

The whereabouts of the detainees seized during raids in Dar-es-Salaam were unknown by last evening.

ZANZIBAR POLLS

In Zanzibar, Seif Sharif Hamad, the candidate of the opposition Civic United Front (CUF), which is part of the Ukawa alliance, said he had received 200,077 votes against 178,363 for the incumbent CCM candidate, Dr Ali Mohamed Shein in what would be the first ever defeat for the ruling party in the island's presidential elections.

"We call on the (Zanzibar Electoral Commission) to declare the result without delay, and we call on Dr Shein to end any uncertainty and concede defeat," CUF said in a statement. "The longer the announcement is delayed the more room there is for those who will try to manipulate and change the outcome."

By 5pm, however, NEC was yet to announce full results from the islands and partial results still put the CCM candidate in the lead.

CUF lost narrowly to CCM in the 2010 election but the rival parties agreed on a power-sharing arrangement to avoid violence.

There was no official response to the declaration from the Zanzibar electoral officials but the head of NEC, Justice Damian Lubuva, called for patience as he delivered the second batch of official results in the afternoon.

NEC has promised to announce the final results by Thursday and the new President is scheduled to be sworn in on November 5.

Early results from the parliamentary elections suggested a tight contest between the two parties.

By 5pm, official results showed CCM and Chadema neck-and-neck having won 12 and nine seats respectively out of the 265-seat Parliament. Early exit interviews suggested that CCM, which had 186 of the 239 seats in the last Parliament, would win a smaller majority this time round.

After a polling day that was widely heralded for being peaceful, reports of skirmishes between supporters of the two main political parties started trickling in from different regions.

Police in Tandahimba, Mtwara Region in the southeast of the country, said they were holding eight people for allegedly invading and destroying the house of an election supervisor in Nanyamba Province.

In Tarime, northern Tanzania, a 36-year-old opposition supporter was stabbed to death in a dispute with a CCM supporter on Sunday night.

The election has been the most tightly contested since Tanzania returned to multiparty politics in 1992.

Supporters of the Civic United Front party gather outside the CUF headquarters in Zanzibar on October 26, 2015 at the party presidential candidate declared victory in the polls.

Tanzania: women say husbands hide their voter cards.

A number of wives in Tanga region, have complained that their husbands hide their voter's identity cards to prevent them from voting in the forthcoming general election. This, indeed, is unthinkable as husbands are not expected to be this foolhardy.

The situation, we are told, is so bad that Tree of Hope, an organisation of paralegals, has deployed operatives who move from house to house advising women to hide their voter's cards from their husbands or other members of the family.

It is imperative to mention at the outset that stealing anyone's voter's card is illegal and is punishable by law. We all know that women make the greater portion of the population at about 56 per cent and hence hold greater voting power in terms of numbers. In this case, we expect to see more women than men at voting centres.

And this has often been the case in recent years. So, the husband who prevents his wife from voting, denying her democratic right, commits a felony. We shudder to imagine what else happens to these humble wives who are denied even their basic right to vote.

Husbands who commit such misdemeanors are also notorious in bashing their wives. Let these husbands know that wife bashing is a greater felony. Some wives have experienced severe domestic violence (being hit with a fist or something else, kicked, dragged, beaten up, choked, burnt on purpose, threatened with a weapon or had a weapon used against them. This is unacceptable and horrendous.

Tanzania: JK - I Leave Office a Happy Man

PRESIDENT Jakaya Kikwete has expressed delight at the 'excellent service' achieved during his 10-year tenure in the nation's highest office, adding that he was now more than ready to hand over to his successor, according to constitutional dictates.

Speaking at a farewell dinner prepared by members of staff of the State House in Dar es Salaam on Friday, President Kikwete requested them to give all the needed support to his successor, who would be known after the general election next Sunday.

"My successor will be able to perform his duties with great success only if you will accord him the necessary support - perhaps even more than what I received in the last ten years," said Mr Kikwete.

He assured the public that he leaves office a very happy person despite the fact that he would be missing the colleagues with whom he had worked while serving the nation in the capacity of head of state.

The president said it would be impossible to meet all the people's needs even if he chooses to stay in power for good and that it was proper, therefore, to give a chance to others to see how they would fare.

"Even if I decide to extend the leadership term, I cannot handle each and every issue on board. The Father of the Nation, Mwalimu Julius Nyerere, led for 23 years, yet he could not solve all the problems.

He left the office to Mzee Ali Hassan Mwinyi to move on, who as well gave the relay stick to Mzee Benjamin Mkapa, who was my predecessor. The same applies to me someone else has to take over, " Mr Kikwete remarked.

Saying that there is an end to everything, he added: "To be sincere, I am happy that I am retiring from the presidency; I am going to miss you. But everything has an end. Ten years are enough for one to fulfil his leadership agenda.

I have played my part," he further said. President Kikwete was first elected as fourth president of the United Republic of Tanzania on December 14, 2005 and re-elected on October 31, 2010. In his more than 30 years of public service, President Kikwete served in different positions, military and government.

He joined the Cabinet in 1988 where he held several ministerial portfolios, including Minister for Finance, Minister for Water, Energy and Minerals and Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.

He was the longest serving Foreign Minister in the history of Tanzania after serving in that position for a ten-year tenure.

In 2007, Mr Kikwete was elected Chairman of the SADC Organ on Security, Defence and Politics, where he was deeply involved in the search for peaceful solutions to political crises in the Southern Africa region, including political crises in Zimbabwe and Lesotho.

In the local scene, he had set out an ambitious agenda for faster and sustained economic growth. On January 31, 2008, President Kikwete was elected Chairman of the African Union (AU) Assembly of Heads of State and Government, where he took a proactive role in resolution of conflicts in the Republic of Kenya and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

He also advanced to greater heights, relations between the AU, UN, EU and the international community at large. He has completed his chairmanship of the East African Community (EAC) and it was during his tenure that the EAC signed and ratified the Protocol on the Common Market.

He left negotiations on the Monetary Union at an advanced stage.

Tanzania: Decline in Hotel Bookings as Polling Day Inches Closer

Zanzibar — Online hotel bookings have dropped as Tanzanians move closer to polling day on October 25, tourism sources have disclosed.

Mr Khalfan Nassor, who runs a hotel in Zanzibar, said that October "is normally a low season, but we have reason to believe worries about insecurity have contributed to the decline although the government has assured us of peaceful election."

Ms Lilian Kisasa, Jovago. com public relations manager, also told journalists of the decline in hotel bookings, but said the country remains peaceful and stable.

Tanzania to Close Colleges for Elections

Tanzania's National Council for Technical Education (NACTE) has directed all colleges to remain closed to allow students to participate in the general election slated for October 25.

Mr Adold Rutayuga, NACTE Acting Executive Secretary Adolf Rutayuga, said principals of all colleges should ensure that they do not lock out students from participating in the elections.

"Colleges that have already been opened, we direct that they be closed one week before election and another week after the polls," Mr Rutayuga told a news conference in the nation's commercial capital Dar es Salaam.

Last month, the Tanzania Commission for Universities (TCU) issued a similar directive ordering all higher learning institutions to re-open until after the general election.

TCU Executive Director, Prof Yunusu Mgaya, said all universities will re-open in November. There are 200,986 students in higher learning institutions in the country.

Tanzania: One Month Gone, One More to Go in Ugly Campaigns Full of Speculation

As the election campaigns in Tanzania clock three weeks, there are signs that the tone of some of the campaigners is steadily becoming uglier with accusations and counter-accusations of foul play dominating the headlines.

The two main contenders, CCM's John Magufuli and Chadema's Edward Lowassa, have avoided trading mudslinging barbs but their lieutenants have demonstrated no such restraint.

Even outgoing President Jakaya Kikwete, the CCM chairman, has not stayed above the fray, allowing himself to be drawn into a verbal tussle with Chadema's chief legal counsel Tundu Lissu over who was responsible for the so-called Richmond scandal.

Whereas the head of state had hinted at a public meeting that it was Lowassa who was responsible, Lissu insisted it was the president who was implicated.

An article published in an American newspaper and purportedly authored by CCM secretary-general Abdulrahman Kinana criticised Lowassa over a statement the latter is alleged to have made to the effect that he would, if elected, free Muslim clerics imprisoned in Zanzibar for terrorism. He implied that Lowassa supports terrorism.

Then claims emerged that an opposition party was training youths in a neighbouring country to deploy them to disrupt the October 25 election. There has been no substantiation of these claims and, apart from the authorities saying they would investigate, little has come out of the statements. What has happened for sure is that a couple of people have died in campaign-related violence.

Fearing escalation in violence as polling day draws closer, several institutions, including religious and civil society organisations, have called for moderation in the speeches made at campaign rallies and restraint in the tone of messages carried on social media. However, the recently enacted social media law, ostensibly designed to curb cyber crime, is yet to be put into action.

Tanzania: Better Salaries, Perks On Magufuli Action Plan

CCM Union presidential candidate, Dr John Magufuli, has pledged tremendous improvement of salaries and perks for civil servants to motivate them to work even harder.

"If elected president, my plan is to handsomely reward all civil servants in the country," said Dr Magufuli when addressing the packed Majimaji Stadium here.

He cautioned, though, that the remunerations would have to be earned, stressing that he would demand their full commitment and diligence.

To stress the importance of hard work, Dr Magufuli quoted a Bible verse stating; 'if a man will not work he shall not eat.' He said as Minister for Works, he had managed to implement such plan successfully with TANROADS where some staff members earn as much as four million shillings per month.