Sugu: Opposition will not boycott elections

What you need to know:

The National Electoral Commission is currently organizing one by-election for Buyungu Constituency in Kigoma and 77 civic ones across the country. The public will vote in these by-elections on August 12. 


Dar es Salaam. Mbeya Urban Member of Parliament Mr Joseph Mbilinyi alias Sugu has said that it is not a wise decision to boycott an election, pointing out that it was a democratic right for the public to elect leaders of their choice.

Mr Mbilinyi was replying to a question why the opposition in Tanzania continued to take part in flawed elections even when it was clear that they would not be allowed to win. 

The Mbeya MP on a Chadema ticket told The Citizen today during a visit to Mwananchi Communications offices in Dar es Salaam that as a political party, they will play their role, even exposing the irregularities which he said are now openly pervasive in the ongoing by-elections.

 He said boycotting them would mean the public is not informed of what is happening and the world will not also be in the know. 

“They would just say that [the ruling Chama cha Mapinduzi] went unopposed and we wouldn’t know all these weaknesses we are seeing now,” he said. 

There has been growing concern that electoral authorities were bangling elections in favour of the ruling party Chama Cha Mapinduzi, with many opposition candidates being barred from running or intimidated into submission. Arrests of opposition candidates and their supporters has also been rampant. 

The National Electoral Commission is currently organizing one by-election for Buyungu Constituency in Kigoma and 77 civic ones across the country. The public will vote in these by-elections on August 12. 

So far, the clearance of candidates has witnessed the cancellation of 17 Chadema’s councillorship candidates for various reasons including those associated with illiteracy.

The Buyungu constituency is vacant following the death of Bilago Kasuku Bilago (Chadema) while by-elections in the 79 wards follows defection of incumbent councilors from the opposition to the ruling CCM in what they described as to "express their satisfaction with the performance of President John Magufuli."

Reports from Ngorongoro show that the disqualified Chadema candidates include 11 from Ngorongoro district, four from Arusha district, one from Songwe and one from Serengeti.

The reports given by the poll supervisors show the candidates were disqualified for various reasons including level of education, objections filed by CCM candidates and some facing court cases.