Tanzania’s ruling party candidate has been declared the winner of a controversial presidential election marred by claims of vote rigging and fears of violence.
John Magufuli, nicknamed “the bulldozer” for his track record as works minister, won 58.46% of the vote, compared with 39.97% for his main rival, Edward Lowassa.
“I duly declare John Pombe Magufuli to have been duly elected president of the United Republic of Tanzania,” the head of the electoral commission, Damian Lubuva, said on Thursday Lowassa has refused to recognise the result, alleging that the electronic system used to count the votes had been manipulated. “We refuse to accept this attempt to rob the citizens of Tanzania of their democratic rights, which is being done by the national electoral commission by announcing results which are not the actual results.
“We are requesting that the national electoral commission announces that Edward Lowassa is the winner of the presidency of the United Republic of Tanzania,” a spokesperson said.
As it stands, the margin of victory is surprisingly comfortable for Magafuli and his Party of the Revolution (CCM). Analysts had expected a much closer race, while the main opposition coalition talked up its chances of unseating Africa’s longest-serving ruling party.
It was not all good news, however, for the CCM. The parliamentary election held at the same time weakened the party’s majority in the national assembly, and a number of prominent party figures lost their seats, including at least nine cabinet ministers.
“This election is still game-changing for Tanzania in general, because politics will never be the same again. CCM is a dominant party whose support is gradually slipping,” said Piers Pigou, a senior analyst with International Crisis Group.
“It’s a bit like a truck going downhill with failing brakes, there’s an inevitability to the conclusion of this process, whether they lose power in next election or the one after.”
International observer missions have yet to release their final reports, but preliminary feedback suggests that flaws in the electoral process did not affect the overall result.
“Although there were a few problems in a small number of polling stations, the overall picture was one of millions of people exercising their voting rights in a peaceful environment and demonstrating their commitment to the democratic process,” said Judith Sargentini, the head of the EU’s observer mission.
In Zanzibar, the semi-autonomous archipelago that has its own electoral body and elects its own president, the situation remained tense after the electoral commission annulled the vote on Tuesday, citing irregularities. The decision was accompanied by fist fights between rival electoral commissioners and a heavy military presence at the body’s headquarters.
The same ballots that were disqualified for the Zanzibar election were, however, still included in the national count. The main opposition party in Zanzibar, which had been declared the winner, said it was a clear attempt to keep the ruling party in power at its expense.
“We can only conclude that this is a deliberate effort to thwart democracy in Zanzibar and cause chaos in the country,” the Civic United Front said in a statement.
International observers had earlier given the Zanzibar election a clean bill of health and asked the electoral commission to explain itself.
“We appeal to the ZEC to act with full transparency in its decision to nullify the elections. We urge the political leadership of Zanzibar to cast aside their differences, put the interest of the United Republic of Tanzania and Zanzibar first and come together to find a speedy resolution to the issues that have led to this unfortunate development,” the EU, African Union, Commonwealth and Southern African Development Community missions in a joint statement.
“This could lead to some serious violence,” said Pigou. “The Zanzibar opposition’s support base is not going to be happy with this, so there will be demonstrations. Now it’s a question of how those demonstrations manifest, and how they are handled by security forces that have not always played with an even hand.”
Source: The Guardian
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