TACCEO kupeleka Waangalizi wa uchaguzi 226 Igunga.

THE Tanzania Civil Society Consortium for Election Observation (TACCEO) will deploy 226 national observers in Igunga for the forthcoming by-election scheduled for this Sunday.

 The TACCEO Chairperson, Ms Martina Kabisama, told a press conference on Tuesday in Dar es Salaam that the consortium that comprises 17 NGOs coordinated by the Legal and Human Rights Centre will cover all polling stations.

 "Since the campaigns started this September, our observers have visited all 26 wards of the district and have visited the polling stations," she said.

 Ms Kabisama explained that the observers would be part of the continued process from the General Elections conducted on October 30, 2010 and aim to establish how the National Electoral Commission (NEC) coordinates and conducts elections.

 She said since elections was a process, the consortium had conducted preliminary observations on the aspects of the campaign preparations of different political parties, coordination of the NEC of the by-election process in Igunga and the actual campaigns of different parties.

 "Our observers have established that there are a lot of good things taking place but there are challenges as well that seriously need to be addressed by the improvement of further elections," she said.
 

Ms Kabisama highlighted the biggest shortcoming in Igunga as decision not to update the permanent voters' register after the 2010 General Elections meaning that hundreds of people will be denied their fundamental constitution right to vote.

 LHRC Lawyer, Mr Merick Luvinga interpreting the Election Act, said it was silent on specific time the voter register is supposed to be updated and that the wording of the law just said 'when possible'.