CCM candidate to challenge Arusha Urban poll results

Arusha. A CCM candidate who lost in Sunday’s by-election in Arusha Urban Philemon Mollel will challenge the election of Godbless Lema of Chadema as the new MP for the area.

Speaking to journalists here yesterday, Mr Mollel, popularly known as Monaban, claimed that the entire process was rife with irregularities.

He claimed that there was evidence that some election officials, whom he could not name, worked in close collaboration with the opposition camp.

“I don’t agree with the results,” he emphasised, adding that in 21 voting centres there were many irregularities noted, including absence of signatures for the election officials, use of unauthorised rubber stamps and intimidation of CCM polling agents, stealing of votes and allowing unauthorised people into counting and tallying centres.

He took a swipe at the returning officer, who is Arusha City director, for failure to heed his plea for a recount of the votes.

He complained that since the last days of election campaigns and on voting day, there had been a suspicious collaboration between the election supervisors and local Chadema leaders.

The Arusha District CCM secretary general, Mr Feruz Bano, alleged that one of the tricks used by the opposition to rig the election was allowing their supporters to take food to their party’s agents at polling stations with fake votes hidden in food containers.

He wondered why the Arumeru East MP Joshua Nassari was allowed to freely enter the polling stations while he was forbidden from doing so. “Our pleas to have him restricted fell on deaf ears,” he complaied.

During the belated by-election for the Arusha Urban seat, Mr Lema, the area legislator since 2010, was declared the winner. He got 68,848 votes or 66 per cent of all the votes cast. His main rival was Mr Mollel who managed 35,107 or 34 per cent of the votes.