CCM bags 132 constituencies

Dar es Salaam. Out of 176 parliamentary seats out of the 264 constituencies, CCM had scooped 132 constituencies followed by Chadema with 33, CUF nine and one each for NCCR-Mageuzi and ACT-Wazalendo.

The results announced by returning officers in respective constituencies indicated that CCM still occupies in its strongholds in Morogoro, Dodoma, Tanga, Tabora and Mtwara regions.

Chadema and CUF took over some of CCM’s long time monopolies in Bukoba Urban, Tanga Urban, Kinondoni and Temeke in Dar es Salaam, Mbozi in Mbeya Region and Simanjiro in Manyara Region.

 Chadema continued to dictate its political prowess in Kilimanjaro, Arusha and Mbeya where it scooped almost all constituencies leaving only one or two to the ruling party.

Chadema had teamed up with the Civic United Front (CUF), the National League for Democracy (NLD) and NCCR-Mageuzi in a coalition called Ukawa.

NCCR-Mageuzi managed to grab only one seat in Vunjo taking it over from Tanzania Labour Party’s Augustine Mrema.

But NLD performed disastrously after it failed to win a single seat, and the party was immensely affected following the death of its chairman, Mr Emmanuel Makaidi, who was vying for Masasi constituency in Mtwara Region.

CUF  also had its share of the parliamentary seats when until yesterday it boasted of nine seats from last Parliament’s two seats of Kilwa South and Lindi Urban.

And newcomers ACT-Wazalendo party headed by young politician Zitto Kabwe also left an indelible mark in Tanzania’s politics when the party bagged the Kigoma Urban constituency which for a long time was occupied by Mr Zitto when he was a member of Chadema.

All in all, the 2015 parliamentary elections were very competitive and saw political heavyweights, especially from the ruling CCM being defeated by youthful candidates.