Electoral body announces new polling date

The Tanzanian National Electoral Commission (NEC) announced on Wednesday that general elections would be held on 14 December, four days earlier than had been planned. "The date has been revised after NEC received various appeals requesting an early polling day," Lewis Makame, the NEC chairman, said in a statement. "After thorough consideration and consultation with printers and other stakeholders, the commission managed to reduce the time," he said. Tanzanians were originally scheduled to go to the polls on 30 October to elect the country's new president, members of parliament and councillors but voting was postponed until 18 December following the death on 25 October of a presidential running mate. Jumbe Rajab Jumbe, 65, was presidential running mate of Freeman Mbowe, presidential candidate for the opposition Chama Cha Demokrasia na Maendeleo (CHADEMA - Party for Democracy and Progress). NEC gave CHADEMA up to 18 November to find a replacement. Makame said NEC would ask the government to declare 14 December a national holiday to enable people to cast their ballots. Normally elections in Tanzania are set on Sundays. On Tanzania's semi-autonomous island of Zanzibar, elections were held on 30 October with the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (Party for the Revolution) winning the island's presidential vote as well as the majority of its parliamentary seats. Zanzibar President Abeid Amani Karume was sworn in on Wednesday following his re-election. The polls on the island were characterised by violence and claims of vote-rigging and intimidation of the opposition.