CHADEMA, Tanzania’s opposition party has nominated National vice-chairman Tundu Lissu as its presidential candidate for the October 28 General Election.
Absolutely humbled by last night's landslide support from my party's Governing Council. Now is time to demand National Electoral Commission doesn't disqualify our candidates and steal the elections for CCM. We'll accept nothing but competitive, free, fair and credible elections!
— Tundu Antiphas Lissu (@TunduALissu) August 4, 2020
Chadema deputy secretary-general Salum Mwalimu (Zanzibar) has been proposed as Mr Lissu’s running mate, while Mr Said Issa Mohamed has been picked as the Party’s Presidential candidate for Zanzibar.
Courtesy image of CHADEMA presidential candidate Tundu Lissu
On July 29th, a visibly limping former member of parliament Mr Tundu Lissu returned to Tanzania three years after surviving an assassination in the capital, Dodoma.
The now fearless critic of President JP Magufuli the 52-year-old ex-MP Tundu Lissu was stripped of his parliamentary seat while receiving treatment in Belgium for gunshot wounds sustained in the foiled assassination attack.
President of the Tanzania John Pombe Magufuli
Tundu Lissu has been in Belgium where he was receiving treatment after surviving an assassination attempt on September 7, 2017 in Dodoma.
Lissu amassed 405 votes, flooring central zone chairman Lazaro Nyalandu and Dr Mayrose Majinge who netted 36 votes and one vote respectively. A total of 453 general council members out of 456 attended the decisive meeting held at the Mlimani City Conference Center in Dar es Salaam yesterday.
CHADEMA delegates are set to hold a conference today that will endorse Mr Lissu. The ex-MP will challenge President John Magufuli in the election. Seven cadres including Mr Lissu, Nyalandu, Dr Majinge, Isaya Mwita, Leonard Manyama, Gasper Mwanalyela and Neo Simba collected and returned nomination forms after intra-party nominations.
Addressing the general Central Committee (CC), Lissu declined to repeat content of a speech made on June 8, this year when declared his intention to run for the presidency on Chadema ticket.
“Today, I would like to explain what this year’s general elections mean to the opposition because the National Electoral Commission (NEC) was the one responsible for organising the polls. Since 1992 when the multiparty system was reinstated in the country, NEC has been backing the ruling CCM through its structure that consists of returning officers most of whom are the party cadres. Therefore, the opposition should expect and get ready for its candidates in the parliamentary and councillorship positions to be dropped against laws, procedures and regulations,” he said.
According to Tundu Lissu, CHADEMA should also expect and get prepared for incidents of returning officers running away from their offices to avoid providing and receiving nomination forms from its candidates.
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