(Bloomberg) -- Tanzanians voted in local government elections on Wednesday that the main opposition said was rigged after thousands of its candidates were disqualified from running.
“There are widespread irregularities in the local government elections, including stuffing of ballot boxes and elimination of thousands of our candidates,” said John Mrema, spokesman for the main opposition Chadema. “Our leaders were also arbitrarily arrested during campaigns, while two of our local leaders were violently murdered on the eve of the election.”
President Samia Suluhu Hassan had on Tuesday, in a televised national address, pledged that the election would be free and fair. The polls are seen as her first real test at the ballot box since she took office in 2021, after the sudden death of her autocratic predecessor John Magufuli.
The vote is also expected to be an early indicator of the support her ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi party will garner in next year’s general elections.
Hassan, who was initially praised for her political and economic reform agenda including lifting a ban on political rallies, has since been criticized for cracking down on the opposition. In September, police arrested leaders of Chadema after they asked supporters to join banned street protests to demand an end to political abductions and murders.
Its candidates were disqualified from participating in the elections on technicalities, Mrema said. Attempts to have them reinstated were largely unsuccessful with only a third of more than 16,000, who appealed their elimination, allowed to run.
Local Government Minister Mohamed Mchengerwa said opposition parties fielded candidates for 38.5% of 80,430 elective positions available in the vote, while the ruling party had put forward candidates for all the available seats.
Voter turnout was low in several parts of the country, according to footage from state broadcaster TBC. More than 31 million people registered to cast ballots.
--With assistance from Janice Kew.
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