Tanzania local govt electoral process enters new stage

Dar es Salaam. Political opposition parties have expressed mixed feelings about the upcoming local government elections which are entering another stage towards voting next month.

Nominated political parties’ candidates start collecting forms today.But the opposition is still worried about possible manipulations to block their aspirants.

Experience from past elections indicates that some candidates have been disqualified for filling the election forms incorrectly, delayed submissions - or even objections.

However, the opposition parties think those are manipulations targeting them in favour of the ruling party in the local government elections scheduled for November 24, 2019.

“It does not click into common mind that only opposition candidates do not complete or erroneously fill the forms,” says ACT Wazalendo publicity secretary Ado Shaibu.

According to him, even the returning officers can guide the candidates on how to complete the forms instead of using the mistakes to disqualify the opposition.

However, The Citizen has not independently verified the allegations which the ruling CCM called the fears of the unknown.

“We are all set to ensure our candidates are aware of the procedure and we have created a communication system that helps to provide immediate assistance when there is need,” added Mr Shaibu.

“A good thing about these elections is that issues can be resolved at the village level and therefore it’s easy to manage,” he said.

CCM Secretary of Political Affairs and International Relations Colonel (rtd) Ngemela Lubinga said they have taken their candidates through laws and regulations governing the elections.

“There are mistakes even among our candidates but these are rare. All in all, we have directed everyone on how to complete the forms,” he said.

Chadema’s deputy secretary general for Zanzibar, Mr Salum Mwalimu, said the party had prepared its candidates and created a system that would ensure the forms are correctly filled in and submitted in time.

He also wondered why mistakes were only made by opposition candidates, and asked returning officers to provide the necessary assistance to the candidates.

“There are sometimes a lot of manoeuvres but we have taken precautionary measures and trained our people,” he said.

“We don’t expect to encounter issues like officers not being in their offices and come back when the submission time is over, as it happened in the past. We hope the government will provide all necessary supervision so that parties can compete at the ballot box,” added Mr Mwalimu.

CCK secretary general Renatus Muabhi said opposition candidates were aware of how forms are suposed to be filled in, adding that they were eliminated through trickery.

The message was echoed by other opposition leaders including Chaumma secretary-general Eugene Kabendera and his TLP counterpart Nancy Mrikaria.