Tanzania’s opposition rejects poll results as tallying continues

Tanzania’s opposition coalition Umoja wa Katiba na Maendeleo (UKAWA) has rejected the presidential election results being released by the National Electoral Commission (NEC).

UKAWA’s affiliate parties – the Chama Cha Demokrasia na Maendeleo (Chadema), the Civic United Front (CUF), National League for Democracy (NLD), and The National Convention for Construction and Reform (NCCR-Mageuzi) – Tuesday evening said they will not accept the results since the electoral process was not free and fair.

Led by Freeman Mbowe, Chadema national chair, Prof. Ibrahim Lipumba, the CUF chair and Mr. James Mbatia, the NCCR-Mageuzi chair, the opposition said there was massive rigging and doctoring of presidential election results.

The opposition said that Sunday night, over 166 youth – including two foreigners – were arrested while manning its tallying centre in the outskirts of Dar es Salaam city, Tanzania.

The two foreigners arrested are suspected to be Kenyan youth who had been hired by the opposition to help in running the tallying centre.

However, the opposition has failed to confirm their nationality but said they have since been denied bail and are being held by at the Oyster Bay Police Station in Kinondoni, Dar es Salaam.

UKAWA says that several results, as announced by NEC, differ from what they received from the ground by its agents.

This comes even as Chama Cha Mapinduzi’s (CCM) candidate John Pombe Magufuli Tuesday evening extended his lead in the presidential election after garnering 1,693,899 votes against opposition’s Edward Ngoyai Lowassa’s 1,240,540 votes in the 84 out of 264 constituencies tallied.

So far, CCM has won 129 Parliamentary seats, Chadema 33, and CUF 22. All the other parties have won two seats. Tallying continues in the remaining constituencies.