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TEMCO: Elections were free and fair in both mainland and the isles
2006-03-16 08:46:52
By Joyce Mkinga
The Tanzania Election Monitoring Committee (TEMCO) has issued an election certificate to the 2005 general election in accordance with fairness and freeness in Zanzibar and Tanzania Mainland. Our Staff Writer Joyce Mkinga gives some highlights of the report.
LAST year’s general elections were unique in a number of aspects. They were held on different days for Tanzania mainland and Zanzibar.
In Zanzibar they were conducted on October 30th whilst in the mainland they were conducted on December 14th 2005. The difference on the dates of elections was also reflected on the electoral process between the two parts of the country.
In Zanzibar where people really mean politics, the process was down with a lot of strain not only on the voting day but also on the whole electoral processes that included registration, voters education, campaigns, voting, counting of the votes and the announcement of election results.
While in the mainland almost all the electoral processes were done democratically and peacefully, in Zanzibar registration, voting and counting of votes was done under strict security.
The army and the police were part and parcel of the electoral processes.
This can justify the two different election certificates given to Zanzibar and Mainland by the Tanzania Election Monitoring Committee (TEMCO).
TEMCO has recently held a conference on the 2005 General Elections in Tanzania in which they presented a monitoring report of the elections.
The major discussion of the conference was on whether the elections were free and fair and the extent of the freedom.
In the conference that was well attended by representatives of both political parties which participated in the general election including CCM, CUF, CHADEMA, UDP, NCCR-Mageuzi, Jahazi Asilia, TADEA and TPP.
The main argument from the opposition was that the elections were not free and fair because the playing ground was not leveled.
Wilfred Lwakatare from Civic United Front who also stood for parliament in Bukoba Urban Constituency says that elections in Tanzania meant dealing with the police force and intelligence.
Lwakatare says that in the past elections there were some irregularities including stealing of votes, which were just obvious, and that the election observers were used to justify the stealing.
’’Election observers just looked at how people vote but there are many things that go on after the voting that need to be monitored in order to give a clear picture of whether the elections were free and fair,’’ he says.
The Director of Elections in the NCCR-Mageuzi Mgeta Bakoma says that the elections were not free and fair because people were threatened that if they voted for opposition there would be problems in this country like it happened in Rwanda and Burundi.
’’Such statements as opposition would disrupt peace made people suspicious and certainty hence opting to continue suffering with the ruling party,’’ he says.
The electoral process since registration was not free because during Permanent Voters Register display there was no clear system to flow so as to identify those illegible voters.
Bakoma says the list and photos of the voters were supposed to be displayed on the wall so as to ease the checking and identification of eligible voters.
John Ikolo, the United Democratic Party Acting General Secretary says that the biggest problem arose at the counting process because there were contradicting statistics between the number of people registered at the centre and that produced when results were announced.
Ikolo suggests that the forms that party agents signed should be a legal document that one can take as an exhibit to court.
Too much excessive force that was used especially in Zanzibar was clear evidence that the elections were not free and fair because it was the ruling party, which controlled the security forces.
’’How do you expect a free and fair election in such a situation where the playing ground is not leveled?’’ He queried.
It’s an undeniable fact that the electoral process entails many things including voters education as the people need to be informed and educated on how to go about during the elections.
Lifa Chipaka of TADEA was concerned on how the civic education was conducted claiming that the people were not well informed.
According to him it was unfair for the civic education to be left to the NGOs alone instead of political parties who are stakeholders in the endeavors.
’’I am very sure if the job was given to the political parties they would have done wonders because they know the people and how to handle them,’’ he says.
On the other hand the Zanzibar Electoral Commission says that complaints among the losers were common.
Khatib Mwinyichande the ZEC Commission says that within the commission there was a strange scene in that the opposition parties within the commission had been saying that everything was okay.
’’Come election day and when they realized that they had lost the election, that’s when everything went wrong. Why didn’t they talk about this from the beginning? He asks.
He says all the commissioners from the opposition participated effectively in the electoral process but at the end of the day when they found out that they had lost they left the forms behind saying they were not ready to accept the results.
’’There is a need for the commissioners to cooperate and adhere to what they were supposed to do and not to listen to their political leaders because they mislead them,’’ says Mwinyichande who claimed to be neutral and not belong to any political party.
Regardless of the complaints the National and International observers gave their overall report of the elections in Zanzibar as free and fair with some irregularities.
Some of the shortcomings of the election in Zanzibar were the management of the register that caused some problems on the voting day.
According to Prof Samwel Mushi of the University of Dar es Salaam some people had voting cards but could not find their names on the displayed lists on the register.
This might have caused many people to be denied of their right to vote for a leader of their choice.
’’There is need for ZEC to review the law and ensure that a list is displayed at least a week before the election in order to solve some of those problems,’’ says Prof Mushi. He presented the conclusion of the TEMCO report on the 2005 General election in Tanzania.
Intimidation of the voters was another problem that came from security forces and political parties. The exceptionally high presence of security forces during registration and on the polling day may have made some people decide to remain indoors because the formal Inspector of Police had declared an operation code-named ’’Operation Dondola’’ heavily manned by the regular police, FFU and paramilitary groups based in Zanzibar.
’’In some places people going to registration centres met police barriers and had to be interrogated. Some terrified people may have decided to turn back,’’ he says.
The second source of intimidation was members and supporters of political parties particularly the two giants, CCM and CUF. Green Guards and CUF’s Blue Guards were a major source of intimidation and violent actions during the campaigns period especially in Unguja North and Urban West regions.
’’These guards and their fans prevented members of opponent parties from attending their party’s rallies,’’ Prof Mushi says.
Zanzibar has historically been a difficult place to have election results, which will be judged reliable and legitimate by the main stakeholders, particularly the defeated parties.
In all the elections since 1957 no major party has conceded defeat. In this kind of political ecology, the shortcomings are apt to create doubt and suspicion.
On the other hand Tanzania Mainland had a different story from that of Zanzibar. According to the TEMCO report, the voting, vote counting and declaration of results activities were carried out in consonance with the provision of both the electoral law and ensuing Election Regulations.
’’Moreover, the National Electoral Commission and most of its staff demonstrated a high degree of integrity, competency and an acceptable level of impartiality and accountability,’’.
The report says that performance in the management of election equipment and materials, in terms of supply and timely delivery in constituencies and polling stations was better than in past general elections monitored by TEMCO.
TEMCO’s observation revealed that voting, vote counting and declaration of results in most constituencies were carried smoothly and in consonance with the rule of law and the methods as well as producers governing democratic elections.
TEMCO Chairman Prof Rwekaza Mukandara defines the Clean Free and Fair certificate as stating that nothing was wrong with the elections or that the observed shortcomings were insignificant and could not alter the results.
Considering all that had occurred and how the election had been conducted in Zanzibar, TEMCO awarded a Qualified Free and Fair Certificate to the Zanzibar elections held on the 30th of November 2005.
On the same consideration and account TEMCO issued Tanzania Mainland a Clean Free and Fair Certificate for the 2005 General elections held on 14th December 2005.
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