Rutashubanyuma
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- Sep 24, 2010
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Defeated candidate petitions election results
By DAILY NEWS Reporter
THE defeated Chadema Parliamentary candidate for Kigoma Urban, Mr Ally Khalfan Mleh ,has filed a case at the High Court, Tabora Registry, challenging the election of CCM Member of Parliament Mr Peter Joseph Serukamba, citing several incidents of fraud and irregularities.
In a petition lodge by Makoa Law Chamber (Advocates) on November 24, 2010, Mr Mleh is seeking among others things, nullification of the election results. Mr Serukamba is being sued alongside the Attorney General (AG).
The petitioner is also asking the court to issue an order, directing for what he dubbed transparent, free and fair by-election for the constituency. Alternatively, Mr Mleh is seeking to be declared the lawfully elected MP
for the constituency.
Advocate Semu Anney from the law firm stated in the petition, whose hearing date has not been set yet, that the petitioner lawfully participated in the 2010 General Elections as parliamentary candidate for the Kigoma Urban on Chadema ticket, held on October 31, 2010.
According to the declared parliamentary election results, Mr Serukamba obtained a total of 20,594 votes, while the petitioner got 19,414 votes only. The results were fundamentally flawed because not only the figures were incorrect, but also tallying of votes was questionable.
According to him, tallying of the results form (Form No. 2) from all the 222 polling stations of the Kigoma Urban Constituency shows that the Mr Mleh scooped a total of 21,104 votes while Mr Serukamba scored a total of 20,704 votes only.
Declaration of results was fraught with irregularities and non-compliance with the provisions of the National Election Act (CAP 343 R. E 2010), the 2010 National Electoral Commissions (NEC) Directives to Returning and other Officers as well as principles of free and fair elections, the counsel stated.
Such flaws and irregularities, he alleged, have affected the results of the election and thereby caused irreparable losses to the petitioner as he has been denied the right to be declared as the lawfully elected MP for the constituency and have unjustifiably denied the will of voters to prevail.
He claimed that Serukamba was at the time of election not qualified to be elected as MP because he was not a Tanzanian citizen as his citizenship was obtained by fraudulent means for providing incorrect and untrue information to the responsible authorities.
Before the election day, the 2nd Respondent (Serukamba) agents were involved in practice of buying voting cards from registered voters. This was reported to the police.
Furthermore, he was also involved in other corrupt and illegal practices during election campaigns, the advocate further stated.
He stated also that declaration of results was delayed, creating skirmishes from members of the public who were present at the tallying centre and who had demanded announcement of the results.
While the Kigoma Urban Constituency had a total of 222 polling stations, he claimed, neither tallying nor verification of the final results was done by the Returning Officer as required by the law.
By DAILY NEWS Reporter
THE defeated Chadema Parliamentary candidate for Kigoma Urban, Mr Ally Khalfan Mleh ,has filed a case at the High Court, Tabora Registry, challenging the election of CCM Member of Parliament Mr Peter Joseph Serukamba, citing several incidents of fraud and irregularities.
In a petition lodge by Makoa Law Chamber (Advocates) on November 24, 2010, Mr Mleh is seeking among others things, nullification of the election results. Mr Serukamba is being sued alongside the Attorney General (AG).
The petitioner is also asking the court to issue an order, directing for what he dubbed transparent, free and fair by-election for the constituency. Alternatively, Mr Mleh is seeking to be declared the lawfully elected MP
for the constituency.
Advocate Semu Anney from the law firm stated in the petition, whose hearing date has not been set yet, that the petitioner lawfully participated in the 2010 General Elections as parliamentary candidate for the Kigoma Urban on Chadema ticket, held on October 31, 2010.
According to the declared parliamentary election results, Mr Serukamba obtained a total of 20,594 votes, while the petitioner got 19,414 votes only. The results were fundamentally flawed because not only the figures were incorrect, but also tallying of votes was questionable.
According to him, tallying of the results form (Form No. 2) from all the 222 polling stations of the Kigoma Urban Constituency shows that the Mr Mleh scooped a total of 21,104 votes while Mr Serukamba scored a total of 20,704 votes only.
Declaration of results was fraught with irregularities and non-compliance with the provisions of the National Election Act (CAP 343 R. E 2010), the 2010 National Electoral Commissions (NEC) Directives to Returning and other Officers as well as principles of free and fair elections, the counsel stated.
Such flaws and irregularities, he alleged, have affected the results of the election and thereby caused irreparable losses to the petitioner as he has been denied the right to be declared as the lawfully elected MP for the constituency and have unjustifiably denied the will of voters to prevail.
He claimed that Serukamba was at the time of election not qualified to be elected as MP because he was not a Tanzanian citizen as his citizenship was obtained by fraudulent means for providing incorrect and untrue information to the responsible authorities.
Before the election day, the 2nd Respondent (Serukamba) agents were involved in practice of buying voting cards from registered voters. This was reported to the police.
Furthermore, he was also involved in other corrupt and illegal practices during election campaigns, the advocate further stated.
He stated also that declaration of results was delayed, creating skirmishes from members of the public who were present at the tallying centre and who had demanded announcement of the results.
While the Kigoma Urban Constituency had a total of 222 polling stations, he claimed, neither tallying nor verification of the final results was done by the Returning Officer as required by the law.