E-mail from anonymous Oct.31-Nov.3

DAR ES SALAAM, Nov.3 (Reuter) By Matt Bigg
Tanzania's High Court dashed an opposition bid Friday to ban the release of results from landmark multiparty polls, prompting an opposition threat to create chaos.
''We do not find good grounds for granting an interim injunction and we, therefore, dismiss the application,'' said Justice Luhekelo Kyando, chairman of the three-man panel.
Kyando told a packed court that a hearing on opposition demands for the suspension of repeat parliamentary and presidential elections in the capital would take place Monday.
The ruling on the results was another blow to the opposition campaign to block last Sunday's elections on the grounds they were rigged by ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM-Party for the Revolution).
''Today's court decision was taken because the judge was bribed. If CCM is tired of peace, then we will cause chaos,'' said opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) leader Abakari Mwaipopo to frenzied applause from 1,000 supporters.
Parliamentary election results Friday showed CCM increasing its lead to 121 of the 232 seats while NCCR-Maguezi, considered the main opposition party, had only nine.
The Civil United Front (CUF), Zanzibar's main opposition party, had 24, including a clean sweep in its Pemba stronghold.
No official results for the presidential race were issued.
Grim-faced opposition leaders disappointed by the ruling, including anti-graft campaigner and NCCR presidential candidate Augustine Mrema, went straight into talks to decide their next move.
The coalition of 10 opposition parties said they would hand a letter to the British High Commission protesting at Britain's decision to supply ballot papers for the repeat elections in Dar es Salaam.
Britain's Overseas Development Administration agreed to pay $111,000 toward ballot papers for about 700,000 voters eligible for Dar es Salaam's repeat election.
The opposition says Britain should have waited for the results of its bid in the courts to nullify the elections.
The NEC announced Nov. 19 as the date for new elections in the capital, a full three weeks after the original poll. It had originally set the re-run date as Nov. 12 but diplomats said it would have been impossible to organize by that time.
The elections turned sour early on polling day when a shortage of ballot papers prevented large numbers of people from voting, mainly in the capital where the opposition is strong.
Western donors who funded the polls and say that Tanzania's judiciary is independent of political interference had said they would respect the High Court ruling on whether to cancel last Sunday's polls.
Tanzania's Attorney General Andrew Chenge also has rejected opposition demands for a transitional government.
He has said outgoing President Ali Hassan Mwinyi would have to stay on until his successor was sworn in. Mwinyi is stepping down after 10 years at the helm of a one-party political system.
Copyright (c) Reuters America Inc.
DAR ES SALAAM, Nov. 1,(Reuter) By Matt Bigg
A coalition of 10 opposition parties asked the High Court Wednesday to cancel Tanzania's first multiparty elections, arguing they were clearly neither free nor fair.
The parties, who want both the parliamentary and parallel presidential elections scrapped, went to court as results from last Sunday's vote showed the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party building up a lead in the house of representatives.
Latest results said CCM had taken 44 seats, the Civic United Front (CUF) had gained 19, while NCCR-Mageuzi, the main opposition party, had taken only four seats.
''In our petition we are raising several grounds which go into showing the illegality of the whole electoral process and the fact they were not free and fair,'' said an affidavit signed by NCCR Secretary-General Ringo Tenga on behalf of the group.
Tanzania's donors, who poured about $20 million into the election process, faced a dilemma because of the flawed election and some donors regarded it as a betrayal of trust.
The High Court will make a ruling Thursday, the same day the opposition coalition has called for a mass rally to challenge the popularity of CCM.
Defense Minister and CCM spokesman Abdurahman Kinana told a news conference Wednesday that the opposition should ''grow up and accept defeat.''
''Democracy for the opposition is achieved only when they win and when they don't win they call the elections rigged,'' Kinana said.
Tanzania's first multiparty presidential and parliamentary elections soured early on polling day when a shortage of ballots stopped large numbers of people from voting.
The National Electoral Commission (NEC) extended voting in some rural consituencies for up to 48 hours. It canceled the chaotic vote in Dar es Salaam and rescheduled it for Nov. 12.
In the presidential election, Benjamin Mkapa, former science and technology minister, for the CCM stood against three opposition candidates -- Augustine Mrema of NCCR, CUF's Ibrahim Lipumba and John Cheyo of the United Democratic Party.
CCM, after its first electoral test after 30 years in sole command, supported the NEC. But the opposition united for the first time to condemn the process and agreed to boycott the re-run in Dar es Salaam.
''All the opposition parties are agreed that CCM has been rigging the elections since the word go and we want the elections to be nullified,'' Lipumba said, sharing his platform at a news conference Mrema and Cheyo.
In a new twist to Zanzibar's elections, held one week before those on the the mainland, the United Nations said Wednesday it would widen its investigation into alleged irregularites after President Salmin Amour was returned to power by a margin of 1,585 votes after four days of counting.
Copyright (c) Reuters America Inc.
DAR ES SALAAM, Oct. 31(Reuter) By Matt Bigg
A united front of Tanzania's opposition parties goes to court on Wednesday in a bid to get the country's first multi-party general elections declared null and void after chaotic polling last Sunday.
Early official results had shown Tanzania's ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi sweeping towards victory in landmark pluralist presidential and parliamentary elections.
But chaos surrounding some ballots led to Tanzania's National Electoral Commission (NEC) declaring as null and void polls held in the capital.
Election officials and materials arrived late or not at all at an unknown number of the East African country's 40,000 polling stations on Sunday.
A coalition of 10 opposition parties will seek an injunction from the High Court banning the publication of results from Sunday's voting and file a petition requesting that the whole process be nullified.
The parties, which include NCCR-Maguezi, Civic United Front (CUF), Chadema and the United Democratic Party (UDP), have also decided to boycott a re-run of elections in the capital to be held November 12.
''So long as the electoral commission has admitted that there are irregularities then we are going to pursue this strategy,'' said Evarist Maembe, Chadema's election director at a news conference on Tuesday.
The decision by the opposition to take their grievances to court and boycott next week's re-vote follows three days in which the entire electoral process in Tanzania appeared to unravel.
Nationwide parliamentary and presidential voting was supposed to finish on Sunday night with results declared Tuesday, according to the NEC.
Instead voting was cancelled in the capital pending a re- ballot after a day of confusion Sunday, and extended by up to 48 hours in at least eight other constituencies up-country.
The ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi party has given a guarded assent to the re-vote, arguing that it too had suffered because of the aborted polling in the capital.
But with staggered voting and a series of legal challenges in prospect, the consensus surrounding Tanzania's transition to multi-party democracy appeared to be breaking down.
One effect of the difficulties has been to unite the four major opposition parties behind a common front and leaders of NCCR, CUF, Chadema and UDP all took part in Tuesday's news conference.
A mass rally in the capital has been called for Thursday by opposition leaders aiming to get a mandate from local residents for their boycott.
Since campaigning has been banned in advance of the fresh ballot the rally is being seen as an act of defiance by opposition parties trying to avoid being backed into a corner.
Throughout Tuesday results from the regions continued to trickle in at NEC headquarters, which is following a policy of releasing results as they arrive to promote transparency.
Late Tuesday night CCM had won 26 seats, CUF 11, NCCR- Mageuzi two and Chadema 1 out of the parliament's 232 elected representatives.
Among the winners were Makongoro Nyerere, the son of the ex- president Julius Nyerere who switched sides and stood for NCCR in Arusha.
Prime minister Cleopa Msuya and ex-prime minister John Malecela both won comfortably for CCM.
Nearly nine million Tanzanians were eligible to vote last Sunday in the final step of its transition to multi-party democracy.
The main contenders for the presidency are CCM candidate Benjamin Mkapa and Augustine Mrema of NCCR.
CCM won separate elections held October 22 for the presidency and parliament of Zanzibar, but the validity of that election has also been called into question with a group of 17 ambassadors asking for a complete re-count.
The letter from whom knows Zanzibar condition well.29.Oct.'95
E-mail from Tanzanian overseas.30.Oct.'95
E-mail from Tanzanian overseas 15.Nov.'95
back to Home page