Tanzania president, John Magufuli in army regalia |
By Osoro Nyawangah,
Dar es Salaam TANZANIA
United States has shown deep concern over reports of
irregularities in the 24 November 2019 Tanzania’s local government elections
that was boycotted by opposition parties citing violence and intimidation.
Tanzanian
opposition leaders have complained that tolerance for dissent has diminished
rapidly since President John Magufuli took office in 2015 on pledges to reform
the East African nation’s economy and crackdown on corruption.
In a
statement released today by the Embassy in Tanzania, US said that election
officials overwhelmingly excluded opposition candidates during the election
process pushing them to withdraw from participating.
“This
troubling development calls into question the credibility of the election
process and results.” The statement read, adding that the United States is
deeply concerned with the reports of the irregularities in the elections.
The statement
further said that the government of Tanzania’s refusal to provide observation accreditation
in a timely manner to credible, experienced organisations in addition, eroded
confidence in the process.
In
August last year, the US embassy issued the same concern citing unwarranted
arrests of opposition candidates and acts to suppress freedom of assembly and
speech in a constituency and local government by-elections.
Official
results released on Monday showed President John
Magufuli's ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party had scored landslide
victories in almost all of the more than 330,000 local leadership
positions up for grabs in Sunday's ballot, which decided who would take office
at the grassroots of government in villages, cities and towns across Tanzania.
The ruling
party candidates won more than 99 percent of the 12,000 village chairmanships
contested, as well as all of the country's more than 4,000 street leadership
positions.
Chadema, the main opposition
party, said earlier this month it would not be taking part in the elections
because of alleged government manipulations, including the mass
disqualification of its candidates. Several other smaller parties also joined
the boycott.
"Our party believes it is
wiser not to support such electoral cheating," Chadema Chairperson,
Freeman Mbowe said in November. "To continue to participate in elections
of this kind is to legitimise illegality."
He
said it was now the time for a free and independent electoral commission to be
established to steer the democratic process away from partisan interests that
jeopardise the wellbeing of nationhood.
Other opposition political party, Alliance for Change and Transparency – Wazalendo (ACT) also joined hands with
CHADEMA claiming that they had seconded a total of 355,424 to contest all
positions countrywide but the Returning Officers nullified 96% (341,2017) and
clearing only 4% (14,217) on failure to fill the forms properly.
In the 2015 general elections in Tanzania, the current President, John Magufuli, under CCM gunned 8,882,935 (58.46%) votes followed by CHADEMA presidential candidate, Edward Lowassa who got 6,072,848 (39.97%) votes with ACT-Wazalendo candidate Anna Mghiwira scoring 98,763 (0.65%) votes.
In the national assembly, the
ruling CCM made up with 252 seats, CHADEMA had 70 seats, Civic United Front got
42 seats and ACT-Wazalendo holding one seat.
Rights groups say the
intimidation of political opponents has escalated sharply under Magufuli
leadership, a strongman whose administration has wielded wide-ranging laws to
silence government critics.
In a country where reliable and
independent political data is scarce and the media is increasingly under
threat, analysts said the local polls could set the tone for 2020
presidential, parliamentary and council elections.
A lawyer
from the Legal and Human Rights Centre in Tanzania, Fulgence Massawe, said the
elections have exposed serious weaknesses in electoral laws.
According
to him, for one to hold a seat he/she must have political legitimacy which
comes from the people.
“How can
someone hold political office when no one voted them into office in the first
place? Even if he/she was the sole candidate people should have go to the polls
to give him/her political legitimacy, just like we did during the single party
era,” he said.
Magufuli, who is expected to run
again in 2020 elections, has been strongly criticised by watchdogs for the
human rights record of his four-year government.
Free media has been intimidated
by draconian cybercrime laws, critical newspapers and bloggers have been
silenced, and opposition activists have been harassed, according to Human
Rights Watch and Amnesty International. - Africa
No comments:
Post a Comment