TANZANIANS GO to the polls tomorrow in the most competitively fought general election since the introduction of multiparty politics in 1992.
President Jakaya Kikwete of the ruling Chama cha Mapinduzi (CCM), or “Party for Change”, is expected to win a second term. But his popularity has fallen recently as his main rivals challenged the CCM’s pledges on cutting poverty and fighting graft in east Africa’s largest country.
President Kikwete, a former foreign minister, was expected to win more than two-thirds of the votes cast, according to a poll conducted by the University of Dar es Salam earlier this month – lower than the 80 per cent that took him to office in 2005.
However, polling is intensely irregular in the country, warned analysts. They pointed to other polls which showed Mr Kikwete losing by a small margin to his main rival, anti-graft campaigner and first-time candidate Dr Willibord Slaa from the Chama cha Demokrasia na Maendeleo, or “Progressive Democratic Party”.
“The CCM has superior access to financial and logistical resources, which gives it a head start against its rivals” said Anne Fruhauf, Africa Analyst at the Eurasia Group. “But its popularity has declined as corruption scandals haunted the current government and it failed to deliver on its key election promise in 2005 of raising living standards.”
Gross national income in the resource rich nation is $255 per person, down from $373 in 2005.
Meanwhile, corruption scandals continue to dog the government despite the fact that some predate Mr Kikwete’s administration.
The $172.5 million (€123 million) Richmond scandal saw the government contract an American firm to provide emergency electricity during a drought in 2006. However, the generators did not arrive on time and when they did, they did not work as required. The prime minister and two ministers resigned over the affair.
In 2008 Tanzania’s Central Bank governor Daudi Ballali was sacked after an audit found $120 million was paid to dozens of local firms, many fictitious.
Dr Slaa has made fighting corruption one of his key election pledges.
The Tanzanian economy is growing at 6.5 per cent compared to 5 per cent for the rest of sub-Saharan Africa, thanks in large part to the country’s booming mining sector. However, despite natural resources the economy is still heavily dependent on agriculture, which provides 85 per cent of exports, and employs 80 per cent of the workforce.
Meanwhile, voters on the semi-autonomous island of Zanzibar will elect leaders to a new powersharing administration. The last three elections have been marred by violence and accusations of vote rigging.