Tanzania Tensions Rise as Election Results Trickle In

Political tensions are beginning to flare in parts of Tanzania over the slow pace at which results of this week’s presidential election are being announced, the heads of two foreign observer groups said.

The National Electoral Commission of Tanzania has so far announced about a quarter of the results from the vote held on Oct. 31, with President Jakaya Kikwete ahead in 40 of the 57 constituencies counted.

Protests have occurred in Dar es Salaam, the commercial capital, the northern cities of Mwanza and Moshi and other places, over delays, Paul East, head of the Commonwealth’s observer mission, told reporters today in Dar es Salaam.

“I will suggest more must be done to speed up the process,” said East, the former attorney general of New Zealand.

Kikwete, 60, is seeking a second term in which he has pledged to maintain fiscal policies that are expected to drive the economic-growth rate to 6.5 percent this year and 6.7 percent in 2011. Tanzania is Africa’s fourth-largest gold exporter after South Africa, Ghana and Mali. Companies including Barrick Gold Corp., the world’s largest producer of the precious metal, and AngloGold Ashanti Ltd. have mines in the country.

The European Union’s vote-monitoring team is “disappointed, even slightly angry, that we’ve not been allowed access” to the electoral commission’s validation centers, David Martin, the head of mission, told .

‘Concerned’

“We are concerned by any delays in the announcement of the results as this creates both uncertainty and suspicion among the electorate,” said Martin, an EU member of parliament. “We have concerns about the transparency of the aggregation process.”

The results announced by the electoral commission so far also show Ibrahim Lipumba of the Civic United Front won the most votes in 16 constituencies, while Wilbrod Slaa of the opposition Chadema party won more than 50 percent in the other constituency. Tanzania has 239 constituencies.

On Zanzibar, an archipelago in a political union with mainland Tanzania, Ali Mohamed Shein of the ruling Chama cha Mapinduzi party was officially declared president of the islands last night, defeating Seif Sharif Hamad of the Civic United Front.

The African Union is satisfied with the way the election has been conducted, the Addis Ababa-based body said in an e- mailed statement.