Authorities overseeing Tanzania’s upcoming local government elections this week published preliminary voter figures breaking past records, amid opposition claims of foul play in favour of the ruling CCM party, including the register being padded with ineligible voters.
According to the statistics rolled out on October 22 by the Ministry of Regional Administration and Local Governments (Tamisemi), 31.28 million Tanzanians were registered to cast their vote in the November 27 polls, making up 94.83 percent of initial estimates.
The nationwide civic polls are for chairpersons and councillors at ward, street and hamlet levels, and are seen as a litmus test for next year's general election involving the presidential and parliamentary seats.
Voter registration was conducted manually in a chaotic atmosphere elevated by skirmishes between registration clerks and opposition party agents complaining of irregularities such as double registration, the presence of separate registers, and the signing up of underage schoolchildren and deceased persons.
One official from the opposition Chadema party, Israel Ngatunga, was knocked unconscious by a stone thrown by a bystander while questioning the conduct of registration clerks at a booth in Dar es Salaam's Ukonga constituency.
Another, Rhoda Kunchela, was arrested by police and detained for several hours after a similar confrontation with clerks in Katavi region.
Meanwhile, the police also announced the arrest of four people believed to be Chadema supporters on charges of stealing two voter registry books at a booth in Rombo district, Kilimanjaro region.
Police spokesperson David Misime said in a public statement that the force was "closely monitoring a plot by one political party to invade registration booths and seize the registry books for purposes known only to themselves."
"We are warning these plotters that this is a crime, and strict measures will be taken against them according to the law if they persist," Misime said.
Questions were also raised about the integrity of the voter registration exercise after the publishing of conclusive total figures just two days after it ended, despite the fact that it was done manually throughout.
In response, Tamisemi minister Mohamed Mchengerwa said the ministry managed to crunch the final numbers so quickly by "using a streamlined nationwide system that enabled daily updates from all centres to reach the ministry in real time."
“We spent a whole year planning for this exercise," Mr Mchengerwa stated. "Our officials have been present at every level from the grassroots to the hamlets and villages. They did a great job to bring us voter registration figures from each booth, each day as instructed.”
The figures show that voter registration in five regions - Pwani, Tanga, Mwanza, Dodoma and Iringa - reached levels well above 100 percent of estimates based on Tanzania's 2022 national census, which indicated a total 61 million population across all demographics.
Voter registration numbers for Tanzania's past three local government elections were 8.77 million (2009); 11.4 million (2014) and 19.6 million (2019).
Tamisemi has announced that the final voters roll for this year's elections will be published after the October 27 deadline has passed for corrections to the listed names "based on objections raised through formal channels."
The election preparations will then move on to the next stage -- receiving and vetting of aspirants from November 1.
Tamisemi, which is one of three ministries operating directly under the President's Office, is supervising this year's elections despite recent changes to election laws placing oversight responsibility for the elections in the hands of the newly constituted Independent Electoral Commission.
This is the basis of a legal challenge filed by three Tanzanians at the High Court which was expected to deliver a decision on October 25.
