Over 5,500 candidates reinstated for civic poll

DODOMA: ABOUT 5,589 candidates who were disqualified to vie for November 27, 2024 Local Government elections have been reinstated after their appeals were given a greenlight by the President’s Office (Regional Administration and Local Government).

Addressing editors and journalists in Dodoma on Saturday, the Minister of State in the President’s Office (Regional Administration and Local Governments), Mr Mohamed Mchengerwa, said that during eight days that his office provided to file appeals by candidates who were axed at a preliminary stage, a total of 16,309 candidates had filed their appeals.

According to him, appeals that were given a node are only those that had minor mistakes that do not affect regulations guiding local polls handling.

The move came after a section of stakeholders including opposition party leaders and clerics complained that the majority of their candidates had been disqualified, saying that the deputy returning officers were favouring candidates from the ruling party.

Earlier this week, the ruling, Chama cha Mapinduzi (CCM), appealed to the government to ignore some minor errors in candidates’ nomination forms for local government polls after the opposition complained that its aspirants were widely disqualified.

The party’s Secretary General, Dr Emmanuel Nchimbi said that certain errors, such as mistakes in birth dates, minor spelling issues in names, selfendorsements, or skipping sections on forms, should not automatically disqualify candidates.

The elections scheduled for November 27, 2024, is now in the nomination stage with the ministry of State in the President’s Office (Regional Administration and Local Government) processing the application forms.

Campaigns are expected to kick off on November 20 and run up to November 26, 2024. There have been widely circulated complaints from opposition party leaders, mainly from CHADEMA who have repeatedly said that their aspirants were disqualified by up to 95 per cent in some places.

However, yesterday, Mr Mchengerwa came out strongly to refute the allegations saying that opposition parties did not field candidates in all elective positions.

“Majority of the opposition parties presented candidates in urban areas forgetting the rural areas where CCM commands a huge following.

According to the minister, in November 27, 2024 polls, there is a total of 80,430 elective posts on the positions of Village, Street and armlets chairpersons.

“The ruling party at the nomination stage fielded all candidates at all positions while the remaining 18 opposition parties presented only 30,977 candidates (equivalent to 38.51per cent).

Four days ago, Minister of State in the President’s Office (Regional Administration and Local Governments), Mr Mohamed Mchengerwa, announced the extension of the vetting time for two days until November 15, to accommodate appeals.

This means, according to Mr Mchengerwa, about 61.49per cent of all positions to be vied for are expected to be contested by only CCM candidates in the next elections.

Voters will have to either cast a Yes or No vote to CCM candidates who do not have any opponent. The minister further urged all political stakeholders to refrain from telling lies to the public regarding the ongoing exercise.

“Let them tell the truth instead of propagating useless propaganda seeking sympathy from members of the public,” he said