72 hrs to write history!

  Council of NGOs says agents must witness tallying

NEC Chairman, retired Justice Damian Lubuva

A week before Tanzanians get to the polling stations to elect their president, members of Parliament and councilors the National Council of  Non-Governmental Organizations has said it is crucial for political party agents to enter the tallying room at the National Electoral Commission (NEC) to witness the tallying of presidential vote results.

According to the council, the tallying of votes is a sensitive stage in an election process such that, if not handled properly, it may spark unnecessary conflict between political parties themselves and also between political parties and the national electoral body.

According to the council, waiting for NEC officials to read the tallied votes to political party agents without availing an opportunity for them to see the numbers as they trickle in from the districts would bring about mistrust between NEC and the agents themselves.

“We call upon the national electoral body to allow party agents into the rooms where votes will be tallied.

This will help bring about confidence in whatever will be done by NEC and ultimately the final presidential results,” the leaders of the Council said in their statement, signed jointly by Deus Kibamba, Onesmo ole Ngurumwa and Ismail Suleiman.

Ole Ngurumwa later explained to this newspaper that since the country’s constitution does not allow political parties to petition presidential election results before courts of law it is important to seal all the loopholes that would bring about mistrust between political parties and NEC.

“Tallying of votes, whether presidential or parliamentary, is a very sensitive stage. Normally problems emerge at this stage. Therefore, the council sees a pressing need for political party agents to witness the process,” Ole Ngurumwa maintained.

He cited the Nigerian example in its recent election (in June) where political party agents or representatives were allowed into the tallying room, a decision that helped to make final presidential results credible to each political party that participated.

According to NEC, the presidential votes are expected to be tallied in three days (72 hours) after the closure of the voting exercise followed by an announcement of the results.

The council also called on the police to maintain neutrality when discharging their responsibilities, including avoiding using excessive force when handling disputable situations. 

Police have also been urged not to put on combat gear or issuing threats because such acts scare voters, hence contributing to voter apathy.


The council also called upon the Tanzania People’s Defense Forces (TPDF) to stay away from the electoral process.

NEC, as an institution, has been asked to be clear and transparent in whatever it does. The council blamed NEC for giving contradicting figures about the total number of registered voters across the country.

However, in recent days NEC has called upon the public to stick to the figures it issues, instead of trusting figures issued by other sources.
The council pointed an accusing finger at some print and electronic media outlets, including those owned by the public for bias.

Political parties were not spared by the council in its statement, saying they were duty bound to conduct election campaign in a civilized manner.
The council said abusive and hate speech were not proper as because they were likely to trigger violence.

 Efforts to reach NEC to get their reaction on several matters pertaining to what the council said proved a failure as most mobile phones belonging to NEC officials could not be reached.

SOURCE: GUARDIAN ON SUNDAY