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| - Tanzanian opposition candidate Tundu Lissu slammed "widespread irregularities" including ballot-box stuffing on Wednesday as voters turned out for elections in which President John Magufuli, accused of authoritarianism, is seeking a second term. Long deemed a haven of stability in East Africa, observers say Tanzania has seen a stifling of freedoms under Magufuli and his Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party, which has been in power since 1961. Commentators had already voiced concern about the fairness of the election ahead of polling, and violence erupted in semi-autonomous Zanzibar on the eve of the vote, leaving 10 dead according to the opposition. "Voting reports indicate widespread irregularities in the form of preventing our polling agents from accessing polling stations," Lissu said on Twitter, alleging ballot boxes had been stuffed in some locations. "If this continues, mass democratic action will be the only option to protect the integrity of the election." The secretary general of his Chadema political party, John Mnyika told AFP that their lawmaker in the Kawe district of Dar es Salaam, Halima Mdee, was briefly arrested after protesting the discovery of ballot boxed stuffed with "pre-marked votes" in favour of the ruling CCM. The election, for which around 29 million people are registered to vote, is taking place largely without external monitors and most international media have not gained accreditation to cover voting on the mainland. Major social media networks have been blocked and are only accessible through virtual private networks (VPN). In a polling station in Dodoma, voter Jackson Daudi said: "I hope voting will go smoothly and the electoral body will be fair to all candidates. I believe justice will prevail." In Zanzibar hundreds of men and women formed separate queues from before dawn in Garagara neighbourhood outside the capital Stone Town, where on Tuesday police fired teargas, live rounds and beat up civilians. Mnao Haji, 48, queueing to vote in Garagara, said she hoped the election "will be peaceful" on the archipelago despite a history of contested polls. "During the clashes with police teargas fell inside my house. I screamed, crying, I was helpless," she said as heavily armed officers and soldiers looked on. However hundreds queued up to vote around Zanzibar, interrupted by several bouts of heavy rain, while the second island of Pemba where the opposition said nine were killed by police on Monday night was reportedly calm. Zanzibar citizens vote for their own president and lawmakers, as well as for the Tanzanian president, and the opposition has accused the ruling party of trying to steal the vote -- an accusation it makes at every election. Foreign observers have often agreed. Magufuli, whose campaign against corruption and wasteful spending initially drew him praise, voted in Dodoma, urging people to turn out to vote. "We also need to maintain our peace and I always say there is life after elections," he declared in the Tanzanian capital. Despite his initial popularity, Magufuli's flouting of due process and intolerance of dissent has sparked alarm among rights groups and foreign allies. In the past five years a series of tough media laws have been passed, arrests of journalists and activists have soared and several opposition members were killed. Magufuli touts as his successes the expansion of free education, rural electrification and massive infrastructure projects such as railways, a hydropower dam and the revival of the national airline. On mainland Tanzania, Lissu, 52, of the Chadema opposition party is Magufuli's greatest challenger. He returned to the country in July after three years abroad recovering from 16 bullet wounds sustained in what he believes was a politically-motivated assassination attempt. Lissu's return has reinvigorated an opposition demoralised by arrests, attacks and a ban onrallies outside of election time. In a boost for the opposition, Zitto Kabwe, head of the popular ACT-Wazalendo party, endorsed Lissu for the presidency on the mainland. In return, Chadema is backing veteran opposition candidate Seif Sharif Hamad in his sixth bid for the presidency in Zanzibar, this time against CCM candidate Hussein Ali Hassan Mwinyi. "I feel proud that I have managed to vote this year," said Hamad after casting his ballot and slamming the election as a "farce" following his detention for several hours Tuesday. The election campaign has taken place with little regard for the coronavirus pandemic. Tanzania stopped giving out official data on infections in April and Magufuli has declared the country Covid-free, which he attributes to the power of prayer. strs-fb/np/ri
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