TANZANIA OPPOSITION LOSES KEY SEATS IN VOTE MARRED BY FRAUD CLAIM | AfriTV Online

Tanzania’s National Electoral Commission (NEC) began releasing parliamentary election results on Thursday with the opposition losing key seats in a vote they said was riddled with irregularities.

Counting was taking place across Tanzania and its semi-autonomous archipelago Zanzibar – which also elects its own president and lawmakers – after the opposition reported ballot box stuffing and their party agents thrown out of polling stations.

Opposition also complains of repression as Tanzania heads to the polls. Tanzanians vote in elections marred by accusations of fraud and s results trickled out on state TV, opposition Chadema lawmaker and chairman Freeman Mbowe lost his long-held seat at Hai in the Kilimanjaro region, one of several lost by the opposition.

“We can’t talk about elections. It is violence. There were several deplorable incidents across the country,” Mbowe reportedly said. Mbowe, who was brutally assaulted in what he said was a politically-motivated attack in June, tweeted that his life was in danger on the eve of the election, accusing police of raiding his hotel. There are 264 parliamentary seats up for grabs in the election.

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