Voter turnout high in historic Tanzania elections

Dar es Salaam: Votes were being counted Monday in what is expected to be Tanzania’s tightest election race ever, with the governing party facing the first major challenge to its dominance in decades.

However, in a few areas, voting was extended to allow those still in queues to cast their ballots, officials added. Mr. Lowassa was formerly a member of CCM, but left after he failed to secure the party’s presidential nomination.

The campaigns are wrapped up, final rallies last Saturday.

Yet, while both candidates promise a new start, neither represents a real break from the past. Lowassa now heads the four main opposition parties hoping to oust the party of Tanzania’s revered founding leader Julius Nyerere. Polls show that Magufuli is the frontrunner for president – though it is still quite close – but the party could still suffer losses in parliament. It also will be the first time opposition parties have chosen to unite and field one candidate for president against the dominant governing faction on mainland Tanzania and the longest reigning ruling party in Africa.

The opposition claims could not be independently verified, but Chadema said it was concerned.

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Mr Lowassa’s campaign rallies have drawn large crowds and are full of young people, many of whom are concerned about high youth unemployment.

Continuing our series of Monkey Cage Election Reports, we are pleased to present the following pre-election report on the October. 25 election in Tanzania from Keith Weghorst and Sterling Roop. “Lowassa has mounted a good campaign”. The resulting draft constitution – which was supposed to go to referendum in April 2014 – promised to reform the federal structure of Tanzania into three governments – equally autonomous Tanganyikan and Zanzibari governments held together by a substantially weakened Union government.

Voters will determine whether to keep ruling party CCM in power or if they will instead choose the opposition party, Chadema.

He resigned as premier in 2008 after a parliamentary commission implicated him in a corruption deal with a US-based electricity company during a power crisis in 2006.

The archipelago’s president and vice-president – ruling as part of a unity government – will go head-to-head as frontrunners in the race, which will see just over 500,000 registered voters on the islands cast their ballots. Makamba, the CCM spokesman, said he expects voter intimidation to keep supporters of the ruling party, particularly women, from the polls.

Speaking at separate campaign rallies, opposition leaders have been repeatedly urging their supporters to ensure that they remain within a radius of 200 metres from polling stations to guard their votes, insisting that there was a plot by the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) to rig votes.

“So far, the elections are going well and everything is going well right now”, Mwipopo said.

The incumbent President, Jakaya Kikwete, is ineligible to be elected to a third term due to term limits. However, the party is likely to lose a significant number of parliamentary seats to the opposition coalition.

Flora Mazengo, election registering officer in Kinondoni, said the election highlights a more important point for Tanzania: “This is a free and fair election, democracy is improving in our country”.