Panick mood within CCM as opposition gains in polls

[RUCCI]

Maasai elders anoint Joshua Kuney (seated left) as a cultural leader soon after Kambi ya Chokaa villagers unanimously appointed him as the village chairman on Sunday. The villagers decided to appoint and anoint Kuney after rejecting a CCM candidate who ran unopposed in the local government elections. Seated right is Kuney's usher Yona Lazaro.


Things were in a shambles. A mess. Chaotic. It was hard to believe the events that were unfolding on Sunday as millions of Tanzanians thronged the polling stations to elect local government leaders.

Even some CCM senior cadres could not contain their shock at the high level of irregularities and discrepancies in the elections.

Serious irregularities with similar trends and resemblance happened not only on a couple of regions but in every region countrywide.

One of the main issues were late arrival of ballot papers. In some regions the ballot boxes arrived at voting centres as late as midday. Other problems were printing errors as names of candidates were printed on wrong party logos. The main victims were Chadema candidates whose names on several ballot papers were printed under the CCM party logos indicating that they were CCM candidates.

Other problems included late opening of voting centres, missing voters' names in the register and shortage of ballot papers. In the Tabata Matumbi area the voting centre official had to flee after he ran out of ballot papers for fear of reprisal from voters who were still queuing outside.

These irregularities caused violence in some centres as voters, who sensed foul play, took matters in their own hands. In one street in Sumbawanga town mobs set the Kizwite ward office on fire after the voting centres failed to open on time. The violence led to the postponement of elections in nine wards out of 19 in the municipality. The irate mob closed the road first and vowed to destroy any government vehicle that passed by. The riot police finally dispersed the mobs.

Because of all these irregularities and violence in some centres voting in hundreds of centres had to be annulled to next Sunday. It is still not known exactly how many voters will have to repeat the voting, but some officials estimate that up to a quarter of all voting centres will have to repeat their voting.

However, in Tanga Region, for example, the Muheza district had to postpone the elections after more than half of the wards missed ballot papers. Reports say 20 out of 35 wards declared to have no ballot papers.

District officials confirmed that the district unanimously resolved to postpone the civil elections to December 21, 2014 because no ballot papers had reached most of the voting centres up to midday.

The District Returning Officer who doubles as the District Development Director, Adrian Jungu said there were so many irregularities that there were no options but to postpone the elections.

In the nearby Mkinga district voters refused to cast their ballot due to irregularities in the ballot papers, including spelling errors on the names of candidates.

In Iringa the CCM's Regional Secretary Hassan Mtenga could not contain his shock at the level of irregularities. He blamed the irregularities on the Returning officer, the Municipal director.

"I have never seen irregularities at this scale since I started serving my party in this capacity. I have surveyed 39 voting centres and only nine had things under control," said Mr Mtenga.

In Monduli district in Arusha Region about 200 voters in the Nanja Madukani area in Lepurko ward could not cast their ballot after officials failed to open a voting centre. Voters said they found a note in the morning saying there was no voting because the CCM candidates had passed unopposed.

The returning officer noted that the Chadema candidates who were also contesting in the area had withdrawn but the Chadema district chairman Japhet Sironga claimed the letters purporting withdrawal of his party's candidates were forged.

In Manyara Region's areas various districts in the region would have their elections repeated following reports of delays in delivery of ballot papers. By the close of the voting at 4 😛m, the election materials had not been delivered at some polling stations in Hanang and Babati districts, among other areas.

The minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office (Regional Administration and Local Government) Hawa Ghasia on Monday admitted that serious irregularities happened in the elections. She noted that all those who caused the irregularities will be taken to task.

"All that I can promise is that heads will roll. All those responsible for irregularities will be taken to task. And if it will be found that I am also responsible I will resign," she told reporters.

She claimed that the elections went as planned in most of the places but opposition parties contest that claim saying that the irregularities were too widespread, in almost all regions.

Activists were quick to point out that the irregularities were a result sheer irresponsibility on the party of the ministry concerned.

Moses Nyatega from the Legal and Human Rights Centre said preparations were poor and government officials responsible for running the elections were irresponsible.

Onesmo Olengurumwa from the Tanzania Human Rights Defenders Coalition noted that the problem was leaving politicians to oversee the elections.

"The minister responsible for Local Governments is a politician. And so you should expect problems when you let politicians run an election," Mr Olengurumwa noted.

Ms Ghasia said the National Electoral Commission would supervise the next elections 2019.

"They were not ready this time because they had a lot in their plate," she noted.

The opposition thinks the whole mess was carefully planned and executed from the top. They have noted that irregularities were high in wards where CCM expected stiff contest from opposition parties while in areas where the ruling party knew it would win voting went on as planned.

However, the level and pattern of irregularities shows the problem is much complex. It is unlikely that the whole thing was planned, but it showed that there is an apparent hysteria by Returning officers, all of whom are government officials, over the steady gains of the opposition at the grassroots level.

Opposition parties have always been considered weak at the basic levels but the enthusiasm of their supporters this time has taken CCM by surprise. And despite the fact that all the results are not yet in it is evident that CCM will not clinch the 91.72 per cent win it got in 2009.

Just to put things into perspectives in Mbeya Region the opposition's win has increased from nine streets in 2009 to 74 in Sunday's election.

The extent to unprecedented irregularities were allowed to take place shows a clear indication of the leadership vacuum in the country. This vacuum is allowing a slow but sure degeneration of the rule of law. Anybody, even a low level government official can now take matters in their own hands.

Irregularities meant that there was poor preparations and negligence by Returning officers. It is an indication of what is to come in the General Election next year.

Uncertainty surrounds the voter registration exercise through the Biometric Voter Register. And there are fears that the exercise might not be completed in time. All this is recipe for irregularities and chaos during the elections.

Also due to lack of resources and capacity NEC has to depend on the same government officials who supervised the civic elections to serve as Returning officers in the General Election. If they handle the General Election in the same way that they did for local elections then serious problems might arise.

Chaos and the irregularities as happened in the local elections would only serve to keep voters away in future elections.

Here are some of the results that were released by Monday. In Arusha Chadema garnered 75 neighbourhoods closely followed by CCM with 73. Chadema won in barely seven neighbourhoods during the 2009 civic polls. In Shinyanga Municipality, opposition won in 29 streets and CCM in 26 streets.

In Shinyanga urban, CCM won in 65 streets and oppositions won in 18 streets. In Kahama District, the opposition took 18 streets while CCM managed 14 streets.

In Nyamagana District in Mwanza region, CCM emerged victorious over other parties by winning in 96 streets while Chadema won in 70 streets and CUF took power in 7 streets.

In Mtwara Mikindani district, CCM won in 58 streets while the oppositions won in 53 streets.

In Mtwara Rural, CCM won in 136 villages while the oppositions triumphed in 61 villages.

The ruling CCM won 102 villages in Tandahimba districts while the oppositions won in 38 villages.

In Newala district CCM won in 102 villages while the oppositions won in 38 villages. In Masasi district CCM won in 171 villages while the opposition won in 12 villages.

CCM won in 70 villages in Nanyumbu district while the oppositions triumphed in 12 districts.

In Njombe district council, CCM won in 54 villages while the opposition won in 28 villages. In Njombe rural, CCM won in 94 villages while the oppositions won in 7 villages.

In Ludewa district, CCM won in 64 villages while the oppositions won in nine villages. In Wanging'ombe District, CCM won in 94 villages while the opposition took seven villages.

In Tanga Urban District, CCM won 118 streets followed by CUF which won 60 streets and Chadema only two streets. However, the elections will be repeated in eight streets following irregularities.

In Ludewa district, CCM won in 64 villages while the oppositions won in nine villages. In Shinyanga Municipality, opposition won in 29 streets and CCM in 26 streets. In Shinyanga urban, CCM won in 65 streets and oppositions won in 18 streets. In Kahama District, the opposition took 18 streets while CCM managed 14 streets.

Tanga

In Tanga Urban District, CCM won 118 streets followed by CUF which won 60 streets and Chadema only two streets. However, the elections will be repeated in eight streets following irregularities.

In Handeni District, the results shows that out of 91 villages, 88 went under CCM leadership while the remaining three had polls marred, leading to postponement.

Source:The citizen