AfricaPress-Tanzania: THE general election is over and Dr John Magufuli has been declared by the National Electoral Commission (NEC) President-elect of the United Republic of Tanzania after fetching 12,516,252 (84.4 per cent) of all 14,830,195 valid votes.
His running mate Samia Suluhu Hassan has been declared the Vice-President-elect.
In Zanzibar, Dr Hussein Ali Mwinyi emerged the winner by getting 489,786 votes, equivalent to 76.27 per cent of all 489,786 valid votes and was declared the President-elect of Zanzibar by the Zanzibar Electoral Commission (ZEC).
With regard to elective positions in both Mainland Tanzania and Zanzibar, the ruling party (CCM) has also outshone opposition parties.
We wish all winners the best! Going by the election results, we can rightly say that this year’s general election did not bring good news to opposition parties – it was simply a ‘catastrophe’!
While the ruling party and supporters are rejoicing for what has happened, opposition parties and their supporters are frowning. Yet, this is not the end of everything, for life must continue.
The victory of CCM means the government has a great task ahead to meet the expectations of voters and Tanzanians in general for the next five years.
During election campaigns, CCM candidates promised what they would do for the people for the next five years and what they had promised will be used to judge them after five years.
For opposition parties, it is also a time to reflect on what they have done and perhaps revise their methodology to see if it will make them more effective after five years.
We say this because, according to the Constitution, Tanzania adheres to multi-party democracy. So, we need strong opposition to make the government deliver to the people and bring about development.
That is why we encourage opposition parties not to give up, but engage in soul-searching to see where they need to improve so that they remain relevant to the people.
As things are, the National Assembly will be overly dominated by CCM Members of Parliament (MPs) and an insignificant number of opposition MPs.
With this in mind, the principles of democracy give the power to the majority to decide on an issue on the basis of their number.
They also require the majority to listen to the minority and take their point of view into consideration if it contributes to national building and serves the public interest.
This is what we expect to happen once the Parliament starts its business after all elected and nominated members are sworn in.
We have mentioned this bearing in the mind what the composition of the new Parliament will look like.
So, let us now concentrate on national building after the general election while maintaining our unity in diversity in a creative, but not destructive tension.
