E-mail from Anonymous Nov.26
DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania (Reuter) Nov.23By Matt Bigg
Tanzania's newly elected president, the
third since the independence of the East African country in 1961, was sworn
in Thursday, at a ceremony attended by tens of thousands of people.
At the National Stadium in the Tanzanian capital, Dar Es Salaam, Benjamin
William Mkapa, 57, was declared president Wednesday after he won 61.8
percent of the vote in presidential elections.
Mkapa took his oath of office, administered by the Chief Justice Francis
Nyalali, in the presence of his predecessor Ali Hassan Mwinyi, who had
ruled the impoverished country since 1985, and founding president Julius
Nyerere.
Neighboring Presidents Daniel arap Moi of Kenya and Yoweri Museveni of
Uganda were also there.
Taking the oath of office, Mkapa said, ''I promise to uphold the
constitution in fairness to all Tanzanians.''
After the oath, Mkapa was hugged by Mwinyi and was presented with a
ceremonial shield and spear. Mwinyi's aide-de-camp then immediately moved
to take his position behind the new leader.
Mkapa inspected a guard of honor of the Tanzania Peoples' Defense Forces,
followed by a 21-gun salute in his new role as commander-in-chief of the
armed forces.
Throughout the hourlong ceremony, Mkapa, wearing a dark suit and blue
shirt, remained entirely impassive, ''almost bored, like he was on another
planet,'' a witness at the stadium said.
In a gesture of East African friendship before the ceremony, Kenya's Moi
shook hands briefly with Uganda's Museveni, prompting cheers from the
crowd. The two leaders have traded accusations in recent months over
alleged border violations.
But the loudest applause was for Nyerere, who raised his trademark club to
the crowd as he left the National Stadium.
The ceremony marked the end of an entirely peaceful transition to
multiparty democracy for Tanzania as a whole after 30 years of one-party
rule.
Chief opposition leader Augustine Mrema of the NCCR-Mageuzi party and his
opposition colleagues were not at the ceremony.
Despite fighting a tough election campaign, the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi
(CCM-Party for the Revolution) managed to retain the presidency and won a
landslide majority in parliament.
Most of the supporters who thronged the grounds were CCM devotees wearing
the party's green and yellow shirts and were celebrating both a change of
leader and an election victory.
''I am happy today. It has been a great election and there have been no
problems, despite what some people say. I have always loved CCM,'' said
Molly Mageni, a businesswoman.
Copyright (c) Reuters America Inc.
DAR ES SALAAM,Same day another source
THE National Electoral commission yesterday declared Mr.Benjamin William
Mkapa(57) the successor to president Mwinyi after scooping 61.8 percent
of 6,846,681 votes cast during last months multi-party general
elections.Announcing the presidential election results at the Diamond
Jubilee Hall in Dar es salaam,the chairman of electoral commission,Justice
Lewis Makame,also declared Mr.Mkapa's running mate from
Zanzibar,Dr.Omar Ali Juma,Union Vice-President. Justice Makame said
Mr.Mkapa CCM Presidential candidate got 4,026,422 votes out of the
6,846,681 votes cast followed by NCCR-mageuzi Presidential
Candidate,Mr.Augustine Lyatonga Mrema,who scooped 1,808,616
votes(=27.8%) of the votes cast.
The chairman said the CUF union(Tanzania) Presidential Candidate,Professor
Ibrahim Lipumba,got 418,973 votes equivalent to 6.4 per-cent and UDP
Presidential Candidate,Mr.John Cheyo,pocketed 258,734 votes which is 4.0
per cent of the votes cast.
Justice Makame said 333,936 votes were spoilt.This was 4.9 per cent of
the votes.The chairman explained that a total of 8,929,969 eligible voters
regestered to exercise their democratic right but only 6,846,681 of them
voted which was equivalent to 76.7 per cent of the regestered votes.
The NCCR- mageuzi,CUF and UDP defeated Presidential candidates were
supposed to attend the historic ceremony but they did not turn up. The NEW
union PRESIDENT Mr.Benjami Mkapa his Vice,were sworn in to day as leaders
in the third phase since the birth of the union between Tanganyika and
Zanzibar in 1964.The ceremony which took place at the National Stadium in
Dar es salaam was attended also by President Moi of Kenya and Museveni of
Uganda.
DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania (Reuter) Nov.21By Matt Bigg
Some of Tanzania's main Western donors
strongly criticized Tuesday presidentiial elections on the islands of
Zanzibar four weeks ago won by the ruling party.
In a statement, 10 of the 17 main donor countries gave the most outright
foreign criticism yet of the election four weeks after presidential and
parliamentary elections on Zanzibar on Oct. 22.
''Given the narrow margin between the presidential candidates the results
of the presidential election declared by the Zanzibar Electoral Commission
may be inaccurate,'' the statement said.
It also cited ''an atmosphere of intimidation'' in the runup to the
parliamentary and presidential elections and ''serious discrepancies in the
compilation of results for the presidency.''
Incumbent Salmin Amour won the presidential election in Zanzibar by
polling 165,271 votes against 163,706 for Seif Shariff Hamad, candidate of
the opposition Civic United Front.
The opposition said the vote counting was rigged by Amour's ruling Chama
Cha Mapinduzi (CCM-Party for the Revolution).
The donors did not say whether they intended to act on their complaints
but they paid up to $20 million for polls in Zanzibar and Tanzania and
their criticism could hit future foreign aid.
In a separate statement on polls in mainland Tanzania, the same donors
noted ''poor organization'' particularly in Dar es Salaam but commended all
parties for taking part on Oct. 29.
''Donors believe that outcome of the elections fairly reflects the
aspirations of a majority of Tanzanian donors,'' said the statement, based
on observations by monitoring groups.
The announcement of the final result of the Tanzanian presidential
election were delayed again Tuesday and will not be announced until
Wednesday, the National Electoral Commission (NEC) said.
But Benjamin Mkapa of CCM had won the presidency, results showed. The
ruling party also won by a landslide in parliament.
Tanzania voted on October 29 in the first multiparty general elections in
the country's history but elections in the capital Dar es Salaam were
cancelled and rerun last Sunday amid low voter turnout.
Three opposition candidates for the presidency boycotted the Dar es Salaam
rerun, saying that they could not trust the NEC.
Copyright (c) Reuters America Inc.
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
E-mail from Anonymous Oct.31-Nov.3
E-mail from Tanzanian overseas 19.Nov.'95
E-mail from Anonymous Nov.25
back to Home page