Author: LYDIA SHEKIGHENDA
AfricaPress-Tanzania: THE Registrar of Political Parties, Judge Francis Mutungi has warned candidates from various political parties who deliberately infringe the country’s laws, saying appropriate measures will be taken against them as part of the efforts towards upholding the prevailing peace.
Judge Mutungi said that the ongoing election campaigns ahead of the General Election scheduled for later this month should not be used as an excuse of breaching other laws in the country.
“Political parties are obliged to obey the laws, rules and procedures and failure of that will lead to unnecessary frictions with the law enforcers,” he said.
The Registrar was addressing political party leaders in a meeting he convened in Dar es Salaam which aimed at reminding them the importance of abiding by laws and other procedures as the country heads for the General Election.
He said that some candidates have been deliberately infringing the laws as strategy of winning the election adding that such acts may disrupt peace in the country.
The Registrar said that the National Electoral Commission (NEC) had issued guidelines governing the presidential, parliamentary and chancellorship candidates and have explained clearly what should be observed by all contestants.
He added that, unfortunately some candidates have been deliberately breaching the laws … some candidates have been reporting their complaints to the media instead of presenting them to the relevant authorities.” “There are various committees at different levels (ward, district, region and national) which have been tasked with the responsibility of handling complaints presented by candidates, but some of them have been sending their grievances to the media,” he said.
He added that behaviour is against the election rules and procedures add noting that it causes panic and portrays different image to the public,” he said.
Justice Mutungi further noted that some candidates have been using shortfalls in some laws governing the election to breach other laws stressing that should not be an excuse because hi s office also use the election time to make evaluation on various laws governing the process and make improvement to suit the future needs.
He called upon the candidates to love their nation by ensuring that peace is maintained during the entire election time because there is life after election.
Justice Mutungi said that his office will continue to meet with political parties in order to address various issues and ensure that the forthcoming election is held peacefully.
He, however, commended political parties for conducting peaceful campaigns despite minor shortfalls by some individual candidates.
“The situation in the country is very cool due to tolerance shown by political parties but as guardian of political parties I will continue to hold various meetings to discuss various issues as efforts to ensure that the entire process is conducted peacefully,” he said.
Tanzania will hold its General Election on October 28th, this year, to elect presidents, Members of Parliament, House of Representatives and councillors.
