CCM retains Dimani, CUF cries foul

Zanzibar/Morogoro/Muleba. The ruling party has won Dimani in an by-election that the Opposition claimed was marred by irregularities.

All eyes were on the Dimani parliamentary seat in Zanzibar where the main parties, CCM and CUF, were locking horns.

Apart from the Dimani parliamentary seat, other parts of the country saw civic by-elections taking place. This was after several weeks of hot campaigns by both the Opposition and the ruling party. Magharibi B Unguja District returning officer Fatma Gharib Haji confirmed that in Dimani, CCM’s Juma Ali won after scooping 4,860 votes while CUF’s Abdulrazak Khatib Ramadhan garnered 1,234 votes.

The other parties with their votes in brackets were: ACT-Wazalendo (8), ADC (42), Chaumma (10), DP (8), NRA (1), Sau (4), TLP (2), UMD (2) and UPDP (1).

According to Ms Haji there were a total of 6,275 registered voters but only 6,172 voted.

The Dimani by-election was held following the death of Hafidh Ally Tahir at the Dodoma Regional Referral Hospital early November last year.

The civic by-elections were held due to a number of reasons including deaths and nullification of results by court.

However, there were claims made by the Opposition CUF in Zanzibar that some of their agents were forcefully removed from the polling stations for reasons that were not clear to them.

They further claimed foul play saying that the voter register used yesterday was not the same as the one that was used during the October 2015 General Election.

CUF also made several other claims including: delayed polling materials in some polling stations; appearance of names of people who are dead on the voter’s list; and some voters voted on behalf of others who were not present at the polling stations.

The main Opposition party in the Isles also claimed heavy presence of military personnel overseeing the elections, a clear violation of the election laws and regulations.

All these, according to CUF, sum up election irregularities that they observed.

However, the allegations were dismissed by National Electoral Commission (NEC) vice chairman Himid Mahmoud Himid, who insisted that the Dimani by-election was conducted under free and fair conditions.

“If some political parties’ agents were removed from polling stations, it’s because they violated the laws.

“I’ve reports that some agents were calling people, who were not at the polling stations something which is against the law,” said Mr Himid.

Moreover, reports from most polling stations for civic by-elections in Tanzania Mainland showed there was no chaos. In Kiwanja Cha Ndege Ward in Morogoro there were no reports of chaos.

Morogoro Municipality executive director John Mgalula, who doubles as the returning officer, said voting went on well with no signs of deterioration of peace by any side.

Most political parties had a candidate vying for the post of a councillor for Kiwanja Cha Ndege Ward in the by-election.

Mr Mgalula said reports from other wards holding by-elections showed the exercise was conducted smoothly.

However, there was a low turnout of voters in most of the polling stations.

A survey by The Citizen saw very few people turning out to cast their vote. Yet reports from Kimwani Ward in Muleba District had it that police had to resort to the use of force by firing in the air following a dispute pitting Chadema and CCM supporters. Kagera Regional Police Commander Augustino Olomi confirmed last night that some Chadema party leaders from Muleba district were arrested on allegations that they had incited violence during the by-elections in Kimwana ward.

Both Chadema and CCM leaders blamed each other for being the cause of the violence.

Muleba Chadema district chairman Khalid Hussein blamed CCM supporters, while his CCM counterpart Anatory Nshange blamed the Opposition party.

The civic by-elections are held in A general overview over the released results indicated that the ruling party, CCM was leading in most stations, up to the time when we were going to press.

Reported by Haji Mtumwa (Zanzibar), Patrick Kisembo (Morogoro) and Shabani Ndyamukama (Muleba).