“We demand that NEC should do a verification of the results and recount the votes”, Lowassa said at a news conference in Tanzania’s commercial capital, Dar es Salaam.
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Despite also citing electoral irregularities, such as dead names appearing on the voter’s roll, Seif, who is also now Zanzibar’s second vice president in a unity government that rules the semi-autonomous islands, has urged the electoral commission to continue with tallying votes and announce the result.
An official from Zanzibar’s opposition Civic United Front branded the move a ploy to rerun a vote it had won.
In elections held on Sunday, John Magufuli is contesting against opposition coalition candidate Lowassa in a heated election.
“The presidential results that are now announced by NEC are not quite different from the figures we are witnessing on parliamentary seats and this is a pure sign that we will clinch victory”. The results were postponed on Tuesday as troops stormed the electoral commission’s compound and locked people inside for more than three hours.
The polls for president, parliament and local seats are expected to be the closest in Tanzanian history, with the ruling CCM party facing its first major challenge in decades.
CCM presidential candidate Dr Magufuli, the Minister for Works under the administration of President Jakaya Kikwete, who is ending his two five-year terms, competed with the presidential hopeful for CHADEMA, former Prime Minister Lowassa.
But top NEC official Damian Lubuva dismissed the claims, saying the “baseless and unfounded allegations discredit the commission”.
Jecha also said the vote had to be cancelled because a few commissioners were partisan and even exchanged blows because of differences among them, a few party agents were thrown out of polling stations and youths invaded polling stations “with the view of causing chaos”.
Worldwide observers had largely praised the conduct of Sunday’s vote.
“It’s an attempt to try and disrupt the process and my feeling is that they just want to create chaos”, CUF spokesman Ismail Jussa told Reuters after the commission’s announcement.
“This action halted an orderly and peaceful election, as evaluated by observer missions from the U.S. Embassy, European Union, Commonwealth, and Southern Africa Development Community, and a tabulation process nearing completion”, the statement said. But it said the overall picture was that “elections were free and fair” and that voting reflected the will of people.
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Despite reports of simmering tensions, police say the country remains calm.
