Magufuli, Lowassa garner more votes as race hots up
CCM presidential candidate John Magufuli (left) and Chadema presidential candidate Edward Lowassa (right)
What you need to know:
Among 82 constituencies whose results were announced yesterday, Mr Lowassa won in 13
Dar es Salaam. CCM presidential candidate John Magufuli continued to lead yesterday, polling 6,190,606 votes (59 per cent) with around 74 per cent of the votes counted.
Chadema presidential candidate Edward Lowassa followed behind with 4,226,293 votes (40 per cent), while the other six candidates trailed by far, making this an effective two-horse race.
The National Electoral Commission (NEC) announced presidential results of 82 constituencies yesterday, bringing their total to 195 out of 260.
NEC chairman Judge (rtd) Damian Lubuva said, the commission would finish announcing the results of the remaining 65 constituencies today.
“We expect to finish the exercise tomorrow (today), hopefully. What will follow after that will be presenting the certificate of victory to the winner of the elections,” Judge Lubuva said yesterday as he wound up the results announcement for the day.
Among the 82 constituencies announced yesterday, Mr Lowassa won in 13 of them in the following regions: Iringa (Iringa urban), Dar es Salaam (Segerea, Temeke, Ubungo, Kigamboni), Kilimanjaro (Hai, Moshi Rural, and Rombo), Arusha (Arumeru East), Mbeya (Tunduma), Lindi (Kilwa South) and Mtwara (Liwale, and Mtwara urban).
In Dar es Salaam, Dr Magufuli won in Ilala, while presidential results in five other constituencies have not yet been announced.
Judge Lubuva yesterday said the nullification of Zanzibar election results would in no way affect the union presidential elections. This is because the union presidential polls in Zanzibar were conducted in a free and fair manner and no irregularities were reported.
“We did not receive any complaints and no irregularities were reported,” he said, adding that the Zanzibar and Union elections are conducted under two constitutions by two different electoral commissions.
“For logistical reasons, we usually employ the services of the Zanzibar Electoral Commission to conduct the presidential voting process. But we are in charge of the whole process in Zanzibar,” Judge Lubuva noted.
