NEC rules out presence of poll monitors, supervisors

NATIONAL Electoral Commission (NEC) Chairman, Judge (Rtd) Damian Lubuva

NATIONAL Electoral Commission (NEC) Chairman, Judge (Rtd) Damian Lubuva, has ruled out the presence of election monitors and supervisors in the forthcoming general election who occasionally meddle with the electoral process.

However, Judge Lubuva said election observers were invited because they respect the international principles of election and remained non-partisan.

“Experience shows that some of the election monitors arrived in destined countries with pre-meditated judgment to support a particular side.

It happened in some places that election monitors openly sympathised with their ‘friends’ who lost elections. We don’t want that to happen here because we are prepared for free and fair election process without interference,” Judge Lubuva stressed.In a telephone interview with the ‘Daily News on Saturday’ in Dar es Salaam yesterday, Judge Lubuva responded to a request by Chama Cha Demokrasia na Maendeleo (Chadema) Deputy Secretary General (Tanzania Mainland), Mr John Mnyika, who wanted the number of election observers be increased and that more election monitors are invited.

Addressing journalists in Dar es Salaam yesterday, Mr Mnyika said the presence of both election observers and election monitors would help iron out differences in case of post election complaints, as the two groups have almost similar but slightly different roles in elections.

According to the web, the mandate of election observers is to gather information and make an informed judgment without interfering in the process. Again the mandate of election monitors is to observe the electoral process and to intervene if laws are being violated, while the mandate of election supervisors is to certify the validity of the electoral process.

“The most widely accepted distinctions between election observation, election monitoring and election supervision refer to the role and the mandate of the different missions in terms of the level of intervention in the electoral process,” end of quote from the web.

When addressing diplomats in Dar es Salaam on Thursday, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Mr Bernard Membe, said at the moment at least 600 election observers have confirmed their participation in terms of watching the electoral process in October, this year.

Mr Membe was further quoted as saying that both foreign and local election observers were expected to adhere to the established rules and regulations during election campaign period to the last day when people decide through the ballot box.

“From the US a total of 100 election observers have confirmed their participation, 50 from UK in addition to 120 others from different European countries and twelve others from Norway. The majority will come from the Southern African Development Community (SADC),” Mr Membe informed the diplomats ahead of the arrival of election observers.

Meanwhile, Chadema intercepted illegal demonstrators who took to the street and posed as the party’s members and interrogated a few of them who ultimately confessed to not being party members.

According to Mr Boniface Jacob, who is Chadema’s in-charge of security, the young men were clad in Chadema attire and were sent by anonymous persons who requested the demonstrators in Dar es Salaam to lift up placards with message demanding reinstatement of the former Chadema General Secretary, Dr Wilbrod Slaa.