Tensions rise in Tanzania as ruling party takes early lead
Election workers prepare to count ballots after Tanzania's General Election using an electric lamp to light the space at a polling station in Dar es Salaam on October 25, 2015. AFP PHOTO | DANIEL HAYDUK
An opposition candidate in Zanzibar unilaterally declared himself the winner of the island’s presidential election and security agents arrested 191 people during a night raid on opposition tally centres amidst rising tensions as results of Tanzania’s most competitive election since Independence started trickling in.
Official results released on Monday by the National Electoral Commission (NEC) put John Pombe Magufuli, the presidential candidate of the ruling Chama cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party, in the lead, winning 10 of the 264 constituencies reporting, while his main rival, Edward Lowassa of Chadema won in three.
