Chadema takes early lead in Arusha civic by-election

Arusha. Opposition Chadema party maintained a distant lead ahead of the ruling CCM in the closely contested civic polls in Sombetini Ward in Arusha minutes after vote counting started late yesterday.

Unofficial results reaching The Citizen website last night indicated that out of the 36 polling centres where the votes had been tallied, Chadema was leading in all but eight centres.

The Civic United Front (CUF) faired badly with only one vote in each of the 24 centres and could not manage any in 10 centres. The party also managed two votes in another centre.

With early results streaming in, there was jubilation and ectasy among the Chadema supporters but tension remained high in the high density suburb south west of Arusha.

Many Arusha City residents kept on tuned to the FM radios based here which made live coverage of the polls which have once again brought Chadema and CCM neck and neck.

Those contesting the councillor post which fell vacant in 2011 are Ally Bananga (Chadema), David Mollel (CCM) and Ally Mkali (CUF).

At the same time, security has been hightened by the police and other security organs near the vote compiling centre in the entire Sombetini area which is along the Dodoma road.

Although voting was generally peaceful, there were ugly incidents around 2pm when police were forced to fire teargas to rowdy people who had surrounded a vehicle which they claimed was carrying some election material.

Eyewitnesses said Chadema supporters surrounded the vehicle, insisting to know what the occupants of the vehicle were carrying. Others claimed the occupants were known CCM officials.

The drama nearly degenerated into a fracas before police intervened and fired teargas to disperse the rowdy people.Unconfirmed reports said one person was injured and several were later taken for questioning.

Analysts say the poll results will have some significance in the politically-charged Arusha City where CCM and Chadema have been fighting for political dominance since the 2010 General Election.

“The winner may decide who becomes the next mayor because currently CCM and Chadema have an equal number of councillors in the city hall”, said one analyst early yesterday.

There was a spat of words between the Arusha Urban MP (Chadema) Godbless Lema and Special Seats MP (CCM) Mary Chatanda yesterday at Mbauda polling centre as the voting was underway.

The two leaders had gone to see how the voting exercise was progressing but suddenly the police ordered the Chadema legislator to vacate the area for unknown reasons.

This led to a war of words between the two MPs. Ms Chatanda is also a the regional CCM secretary for Tanga Region. There are 34 voting slots in Mbauda where the drama took place.

Meanwhile, police are alleged to have roughed up the Arusha Urban (Chadema) MP Godbless Lema shortly before 5.30 pm at the Sombetini Ward office where the votes were being counted. He was in tears and could not speak to journalists.

According to eyewitnesses, the lawmaker was beaten, kicked by policemen and fell into a water trench. Others say he received some injuries. He had gone there to oversee the vote tallying exercise, but was refused entry into the perimeter where the exercise was taking place under tight security.

Vote tallying from various polling centres was going on in the densely populated Sombetini Ward, south west of Arusha last night. However, unofficial figures indicate that Chadema was leading in all the voting centres. Little known Ali Bananga was the Chadema candidate for yesterday’s civic polls while the ruling CCM aspirant was David Mollel. The CUF candidate was Ally Mkali

Reported by Zephania Ubwani, Zulfa Mussa and Filbert Rweyemamu