Magufuli in the lead with 9.5 million votes on second day of counting

Dar es Salaam. Vote counting almost at the tail end on Friday, CCM Presidential candidate John Magufuli, has established a strong lead after Wednesday’s General Election.

With presidential votes from 212 out of the 264 constituencies officially Dr Magufuli is in a comfortable lead of 84 per cent (over 9.5million votes) - beating by far TunduLissu, the opposition Chadema candidate who has 1.5 million votes equivalent 13 per cent of the total votes cast.

The figures - announced by the National Electoral Commission (NEC) chairman, Judge (Rtd) SemistoclesKaijage - showed that Magufuli has scored over 80 per cent of the votes in most constituencies.

Judge Kaijage announced presidential results for Njombe Urban, Wanging’ombe, Makete and Lupembe constituencies.

In Njombe Urban, Magufuli polled 30,134, equivalent to 84.47 percent of the valid votes cast. His closest rival, MrLissu, bagged 5,138 (14.40 per cent) of total votes.

Again, Magufuli garnered over 80 per cent of the valid votes in Makete while Mr Lissu could manage only a paltry 11.9 percent.

At Wanging’ombe, the CCM candidate bagged 92 per cent of the votes - and 27,517 votes in Lupembe: 94 per cent of the votes.

In Mwanza, NEC announced results from two constituencies by press time yesterday. In Misungwi constituency, Magufuli collected 98.72 percent while in Sengerema, the CCM candidate bagged 87.56 per cent of the votes.

NEC also announced results of several constituencies in Zanzibar and the names of constituencies and votes scored by Magufuli were as follows: Mahonda (67.25 percent), Bumbwini (85.67 percent), Chumbuni (72 percent), Mwanakwerekwe (71.05 percent), Tumbe (47.06 percent), Micheweni (51.06 percent), Kiembesamaki (82.85 percent) and Makunduchi (86 percent) .

NEC also announced several presidential election results for constituencies in the Coast Region whereby in Mafia, DrMagufuli bagged 79.56 percent of the votes while in Bagamoyo, he scored 80.95 percent of the votes while MrLissu got 15.48 percent. In Kibaha Town, DrMagufuli won 83.43 percent of the votes against 15.15 percent won by MrLissu.

Singida

In Manyoni Constituency, Magufuli bagged about 85 percent of the votes while in Singida West, DrMagufuli bagged 83.25 percent of the votes. In Iramba East, Magufuli bagged 87.82 percent of total votes while Mr Lissu got 10.08 percent of the votes.

In Singida West, Magufuli garnered 83.25 percent against 14.78 percent of Lissu while in Singida East, DrMagufuli collected 58.66 percent against 38.17 percent scored by Lissu.

Katavi

In Nsimbo, Magufuli bagged 95.17 percent. In Mpanda Urban, he garnered 76.95 percent against 21.82 percent of MrLissu.

Tanga

In Handeni Urban, Magufuli received 85.54 percent of all eligible votes while Tundu Lissu scored 8.89 percent of total votes. In Bumbuli, DrMagufuli polled 93.21 percent. According to the announced results, DrMagufuli was far ahead of his counterparts in Manyara, Mara, Dodoma, Kagera, Mtwara, Kilimanjaro, Arusha, Simiyu and Mbeya among others.

Counting is still ongoing with a possibility of the winner being declared later in the day.

Additional reporting by Jacob Mosenda