Chairperson of the Commonwealth Observer Group to the 2010 Tanzania elections
Commonwealth issues final report on 2010 Tanzania general elections
6 December 2010
A peaceful election, representing a step forward for Tanzania, but some concerns about slow pace of results process
Commonwealth Secretary-General Kamalesh Sharma today, 6 December 2010, released the Final Report of the Commonwealth Observer Group which observed the 31 October general elections in Tanzania.
The Report was completed and signed by all members of the Commonwealth Observer Group prior to their departure from Tanzania. It was presented to the Commonwealth Secretary-General by the Chair of the Group, The Rt Hon Paul East QC, former Attorney-General of New Zealand. Before being made public, it was distributed to the Governments of Tanzania and Zanzibar, political parties, the National Electoral Commissions of Tanzania and Zanzibar and all other Commonwealth governments.
In issuing the report, he said: “The Commonwealth Observer Group found that overall these elections represent a step forward for Tanzania. The Group highlighted the peaceful campaigns, the development of an electronic permanent voters register and the opposition’s magnanimous acceptance of the result of the Zanzibar presidential elections.”
The Secretary-General continued: “However, I note that the Group did express concern at the drawn-out nature and lack of transparency of the results process for the Union elections. The Group also noted a lack of an entirely level playing field for the election, and the need to further develop the electoral framework to bring it in line with the requirements of a multi-party system.”
The Secretary-General stressed that the Commonwealth Secretariat stands ready to assist the Government of Tanzania to help further strengthen the democratic process in the country.
Click here to download the final report.
I think the Commonwealth election observer group did an excellent job in monitoring the elections in Tanzania. Their recommendations should be forwarded to the Tanzanian government as well as discussed at Commonwealth meetings of ministers. The recommendations would be useful to other Commonwealth nations in the process of strengthening their electoral systems. Dr Joseph M. Fernando Department of History University of Malaya 50603 Kuala Lumpur
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