The Commonwealth Observer Group (COG) in Tanzania led by former President Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan yesterday gave last Sunday’s general elections in the country a clean bill, stating that the polling was peaceful, orderly, and transparent.
It however noted that there were some inconsistencies in the application of procedures, a development COG stressed was not “of such magnitude as to negatively impact on the overall process.”
In an interim report presented to the media by Jonathan in Dar es Salaam Tuesday, the former President said: “Our overall assessment of the voting process, based on our observations is that it was conductedin a peaceful, calm and orderly manner, according to the proceduresoutlined in the laws of the united Republic of Tanzania.
We conclude that the closing and counting were conducted transparently, and inaccordance with the laws of Tanzania.”
Neither the electoral bodies in both the mainland and thesemi-autonomous island of Zanzibar had released the polling results asat Monday evening.
However, the Commonwealth Group said it was wellaware of the fact that the people are expectant of the results andcalled for calm while the outcome of the tallying was being awaited.
Jonathan further said: “We note that the results process is ongoing.Tallying of results continues across the country.
We have receivedreports of tensions in some places where our Observers are basedincluding in Mtwara and Mwanza.
We note with particular concern thedecision by the Civic United Front (CUF) to prematurely announceresults in Zanzibar, which exacerbated tensions there.”
The Chair however emphasized that the electoral environment onElection Day was conducive to the free exercise of the people’sfranchise with basic freedoms respected.
Jonathan said further: “We wish to commend the people of UnitedRepublic of Tanzania for demonstrating their commitment to democracyby engaging so keenly with the electoral process in a peaceful andorderly manner.“
We call on all stakeholders, in particular the political leadershipand their supporters in Zanzibar, to continue to show restraint andmagnanimity and to uphold their commitment to national unity, peaceand solidarity.
We believe the people of Tanzania deserve that fromtheir leadership.“In our final report, we will reflect further on possible areas forimprovement. In particular, we will address two criticalrecommendations which the 2010 Commonwealth Observer Group proposed,both of which remain unimplemented: the lack of legal recourse forchallenges to the outcome of the presidential elections; and the needto bolster the independence of the NEC and ZEC.
“Our final report will be submitted in due course to theSecretary-General of the Commonwealth, who will subsequently share itwith relevant stakeholders before it is made public.”
Before the election COG observed that the environment was heightened because of the emergence of the UKAWA alliance of opposition partiesbut the body, adding that the campaigns which attracted large crowds,turned out to be generally peaceful, “although reports of somelocalised incidents were recorded.”
“On Election Day, our observers reported that most voting stationsopened on time with a few exceptions.
At the close of polls at 4:00pm,the long queues in some places had thinned out. Where there were stillvoters in the queue, they were allowed to vote in line with the law.
Closing procedures were also generally well observed.“Polling officials and party agents collaborated in a collegial spiritduring the count. Our observers recorded few spoilt ballots.
It appears voters were conversant with the process and also knew how tomake their mark.
“Where there were contested ballots, the polling officials and partyagents resolved the matter amicably. We conclude that the closing andcounting were conducted transparently, and in accordance with the lawsof Tanzania.”
