CCM’s John Pombe Magufuli elected Tanzania’s fifth president

Dr John Pombe Magufuli Joseph has been elected Tanzania’s fifth President.

Dr Magufuli was elected on a Chama Cha Mapinduzi’s (CCM) ticket after garnering 8,882,935 votes against his closest challenger Edward Ngoyai Lowassa of the Chama Cha Demokrasia na Maendeleo (Chadema) who garnered 6,072,848.

Magufuli beat seven other candidates to emerge winner in what was termed as the hottest contest in the country’s political history.

Magufuli’s votes represented 58.46 per cent of the total vote cast, while Lowassa’s represented 39.97 per cent.

Out of the 23,161,440 registered voters, only 15,589,639 voted – representing a 67.31 per cent voter turnout.

The spoilt votes totaled 402,248, an equivalent of 2.58 per cent of the total votes cast.

So far, only six of the eight contestants and their political parties signed the Form 27 ratifying the results.

Chadema’s Edward Lowassa and his agents did not appear at the tallying Centre at the Julius Nyerere International Conference Centre (JNICC) in Dar es Salaam.

Just before Tanzania’s electoral body declared CCM candidate John Pombe Magufuli the winner, opposition candidate Edward Lowassa demanded to be declared the winner, claiming he had garnered a total of 10,265,795 votes an equivalent of 62 per cent of the total vote.

Lowassa claims his vote tally showed clearly that he had beaten Magufuli by a big margin and blamed the National Electoral Commission for conspiring with the ruling party candidate to rig him out.

He vowed to fight for his “stolen victory” saying he will not allow the right of the people of Tanzania to be abused.

Other candidates and their votes are as follows: Anna Elisha Mghwira (ACT Wazalendo, 98,763 votes, Chief Lutalosa Yemba (ADC) 66,049 votes, Hashim Rungwe Spunda (Chaumma) 49,256 votes, Kasambala Janken Malik (NRA) 8,028, Lyimo Macmillan Elifation (TLP) 8,198 votes and Dovutwa Fahmi Nasoro (UPDP) 7,785 votes.