City resident challenges announcement of ‘unopposed’ poll winners

Dar es Salaam. The government has 14 days to submit its defence against a High Court petition challenging the announcement of unopposed candidates in elections as winners. In the constitutional case number 20/2019 filed by advocate Gaston Marubindi, the High Court is asked to scrap Section 44 of the National Election Law Chapter 343 and Section 45(2) of the Local Government Elections Act Chapter 292.

The respondents to the case are the Attorney General (AG), the National Electoral Commission (NEC) and NEC director of elections.

In his plea, Mr Marubindi has argued that the now-famous practice of declaring unopposed candidates who stand for different political positions winners without being voted has serious repercussions on citizens’ participation in matters of governance.

He makes the point that the sections he wants to be scrapped off law books have been notoriously used to allow unopposed candidates to be declared winners of a respective political position they are vying for without being voted on.

He called the sections giving such powers as invalid and that they contravene the Constitution of the United Republic of Tanzania.

The case, which is being heard by a team of three judges led by Principal Judge Dr Eliezer Feleshi, was mentioned for the first time yesterday.

The applicant to the case was represented by Advocate Alex Masana and the defendant were represented by state attorneys Grace Lupondo and Lucy Kimario. Advocate Lupondo asked the court to grant them more time so that they would consult their clients and then present the defence and counter-affidavits.

The court agreed to the plea and therefore granted them 14 days.

Principal Judge Feleshi urged the defendants to submit their defence on September 16, 2019, whereby the applicant will be expected to counter it on September 23, 2019.

Principal Judge Feleshi also said the case will be mentioned again on September 24, 2019 so that the date of hearing can be set.