Tanzania election: Government ministers suffer shock defeat

Tanzania is holding its breath after the opposition rejected the outcome of elections, with its presidential candidate Edward Lowassa saying the polls had been rigged.

“We demand that NEC should do a verification of the results and recount the votes”, he said.

In response to the annulment, Maalim Seif, presidential candidate and leader of the main opposition party, the Civic United Front (CUF), accused the ZEC of acting unilaterally and without consultation at a brief meeting with senior party members.

Under the opposition coalition pact, CUF’s candidate ran for president in Zanzibar, with semi-autonomous powers, and Lowassa, who defected from CCM, was Ukawa’s candidate for president of the united republic.

“The presidential results that are now announced by NEC are not quite different from the figures we are witnessing on parliamentary seats and this is a pure sign that we will clinch victory”.

The remaining 69 constituency results will be announced Thursday and the victor of the poll presented with certificate on Friday. Partial results on Monday could show the direction of voting following the most hotly contested race after more than five decades of rule by the CCM party.

Zanzibar’s electoral commission on Wednesday said elections on the Indian Ocean islands – where the 500 000 registered electorate had also voted on Sunday for Tanzania’s national president – must be carried out again, citing “violations of electoral law”. Stephen Wasira the Agriculture Minister under President Jakaya Kikwete lost his Parliamentary seat to Ester Bulaya of the Chadema party.

Zanzibar has a strong opposition and loud Islamist and separatist voices, although the ruling party has also said it expects to win overall on the island.

Analysts have warned Tanzania’s tight race could spark tensions, with the opposition providing the first credible challenge to the CCM since the introduction of multi-party democracy in 1995. Global observers largely praised the conduct of the vote on Sunday.

Speaking to reporters in Dar es Salaam, Chadema chairman Freeman Mbowe, NCCR-Mageuzi chairman, James Mbatia and Chadema deputy chairman (Mainland) Abdallah Safari alleged that what NEC chairman (rtd) Judge Damian Lubuva has been announcing to the nation since Monday did not correspond with what they tallied from their own agents.

Lowassa, who quit the CCM after the party spurned him as their candidate, said he would not concede defeat if he did not deem the election free and fair.

Despite reports of simmering tensions, police say the country remains calm.