Opposition mulls over court action against by-elections

The coalition of opposition parties has said it will go to court to stop by-elections scheduled for this month in 16 wards across the country. It accuses the National Election Committee (NEC) of failure to update the voter register. Speaking to journalists in Dar es Salaam yesterday, Tanzania Labour Party Publicity Secretary Benedicto Mutungirehi said they would file a case against NEC tomorrow so that the by-elections are halted. `The coalition is determined to sue NEC for refusing to enlist new voters. NEC might tamper with the election exercise,` Mutungireli said. He said on August 8, this year NEC told opposition parties that there would be a by-election for 16 wards in 10 regions scheduled to take off this October. `The coming by-elections result from death; withdrawal of membership and transfer of some ward councillors across Tanzanian Mainland,` he said. He added:`NEC gave us a timetable, saying the by-election process would start today (yesterday) and effective campaigns were slated to take-off starting tomorrow (today) up to 27th October. 28th October is election day.` He said:`The bad thing is that NEC announced that the permanent voter register would be used without registering new voters who had attained the age of 18 and who did not register in 2004.` He said the country`s Constitution was very clear on this as it specified rules and regulations governing the election process. `It allows all citizens who have reached 18 to become eligible voters but the way things are going on now is discouraging,` Mutungireli said. `As opposition parties, we requested NEC to register new voters in those respective wards, yet they refused and decided to use the old register that was prepared in 2004,` he added. He said the decision was unfair as it barred the majority of youths who were still young in 2004, although they were now eligible voters. The coalitions comprises Chama cha Demokrasia na Maendeleo, Civil United Front (CUF), NCCR-Mageuzi and TLP.