BY EDITOR
19th July 2015
As it is routine, the polls involve marathon campaigns by all political parties, the period that we witness heated position taking and exchange of words among candidates of different political parties in their quest to win voters.
During campaigns political parties do whatever is necessary to ensure their election manifestos are accepted by the breadth of the voters, meaning that ‘selling an election manifesto’ is the number one priority for each party.
Traditionally, the campaign period is characterised by pockets of incidents of disturbance of the peace as supporters of different parties tend to clash in the venues of public gatherings. The situation often becomes tense on polling day and in waiting for results to be announced.The situation becomes delicate as political parties tend not to concede defeat. Tempers among candidates and their followers flare to such an extent that some zealots find themselves landing either in police hands or in hospital nursing injuries.
When that happens to a few individuals it is bearable but it is dangerous when a few individuals incite a larger group to commit acts that may end up threatening peace and tranquility. By any standards that is not acceptable.
Only yesterday we read in newspapers that political parties in Zanzibar have signed what is known as the Isles Electoral Code of Conduct in anticipation or such flaws in this year’s general elections.
The document is chiefly of a political character as it is not a legislative initiative that is legally binding. It is a statement of intent and a public act of assurance for smooth elections, especially working to exclude violence from campaigns.
We are informed that the terms that govern the signing of the code of conduct, among other things, deter all candidates from using defamatory, inflammatory and foul language in all forms.
According to the agreement signed, candidates must refrain from making provocative, derogatory and insulting attacks on other parties’ personalities, ethnic origins or religious affinities.
In whatever way one may argue, the signing of the agreement is highly commendable. However, just like a referee who officiates in a football match the National Electoral Commission (NEC), which has the role of referee during elections must take up its role professionally and fairly. Police officers charged with enforcing the law must also conduct themselves in a professional way.
We have several times heard opposition parties complaining over bias exercised by the national electoral body and police, ostensibly in favour of the ruling party.
Though the way this is supposed to be done is not always explicit or evident, such claims do not paint a good picture for a country that had endorsed political pluralism since 1992 and successively from that time multiparty democracy has been the rule in elections.
Every stakeholder in the general election is aware that Tanzania belongs to us all. We don’t have another piece of land that can receive people from Tanzania in case they find this place too hot for them to live as they have always been living. This is the only place that all of us can call home. In that case party politics and the key players, institutions as well as individuals take their positions on any appointed day, leave the scene at some point but Tanzania will remain.
No wants to see a repetition of the ugly incidents of January 2001 in Zanzibar. We want peaceful elections in campaigns and acceptance of outcomes, and this will surely depend on the conduct of all actors. Public assurance depends on their probity, living to the promise entailed in the codes of conduct to which themselves, and the public are all attached.
SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN
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