CUF to declare its stand on rerun of local polls

Dar es Salaam. The Civic United Front (CUF) faction supporting Secretary General Seif Shariff Hamad will declare its stand on the rerun of local government elections in three days.

A statement issued on Friday October 6 by Communication, Publicity and Public Relations Deputy Director Mbarala Maharagande says they are assessing whether they will participate or not.

“We are assessing to establish our strengths and weaknesses by passing through member database from different wards,” noted Mr Maharagande.

He said the assessment would also determine areas of cooperation with parties forming the opposition coalition (Ukawa).

According to him, the second largest opposition party will not take an abrupt decision to participate in the by-election and that the background of the 2015 General Election and the 2017 rerun would be their measure.

“We will not feature candidates in strongholds of other parties in the coalition. We will also ask them not to feature people in areas of our strength as we have always been doing,” reads part of the statement.

The opposition party has plunged into a political dispute, which has split it into two factions - one aligned with its chairman Prof Ibrahim Lipumba and the other with Mr Hamad.

The National Electoral Commission (NEC) has declared the election rerun in 43 wards on November 26 this year.