Tanzania’s Ministry of Regional Administration and Local Government (Tamisemi) has said the results of the Wednesday civic elections should be out by Friday.

 

The elections are a test for the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM), which is seeking to replicate the 2019 victory or widen the gap on the opposition.

Tamisemi Minister Mohamed Mchengerwa said late on Wednesday the final results would be announced within 72 hours."With the systems we have in place, we expect the process of compiling all the votes to be swift. Results in some areas could be announced as early as today and tomorrow," Mr Mchengerwa told a media conference in Dar es Salaam.

The local government elections were held in an uneasy atmosphere amid reports of rigging by the supervising authorities.

Polling booths were opened at 8am and, by the time they closed at 4pm, it was clear that opposition’s hopes of regaining some say at the grassroots had been quashed.

Video clips doing the rounds from early morning depicted multiple incidents pointing to foul play by poll supervisors across the country. These included confrontations between polling officials and opposition party agents over ballot boxes alleged to have been stuffed with ballots before voting began.

In Dar es Salaam, low voter turnout was observed in most of the polling booths, reflecting voter apathy.

Similar disinterest was also evident during the voter registration, when listing centres remained visibly empty, only for Tamisemi to announce a record figure of 31.2 million registrations against a 61.4 million national population.

The main opposition party Chadema issued a public statement before 2pm detailing specific instances of alleged irregularities that it had noted. The party said its agents had caught polling booth clerks with stuffed ballot boxes and alleged irregularities in Chato, Bariadi, Msalala, Kilosa, Kibaha, Igunga and Segerea.

Police arrested the agents and took possession of the boxes, and there were cases of opposition agents being denied access to polling stations altogether or forcibly removed for causing public disturbances, the party added.

It said two of its members were killed on the eve of the elections.

In Manyoni, election candidate George Juma Mohamed was shot dead after being attacked by ruling party supporters in his home late Tuesday, while in Tunduma local party leader Steven Chalamila was killed in a machete attack, also at his home.

Later in the afternoon Chadema posted on its official X account that another party candidate, Modestus Timbisimilwa, had also died after being badly beaten while trying to prevent "fake" votes from being placed in a ballot box in Gongolamboto, a Dar es Salaam suburb."We demand that Tamisemi provide an explanation to the public regarding the votes that were found already cast for CCM candidates and what action it will take against the election supervisors in those areas," Chadema's protocol and communications director John Mrema said.

Mr Mrema also called for the arrest of the perpetrators of the reported killings and open charges against them in court.

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