THE ruling party CCM has secured a landslide win, taking 12,150 village chairman positions accounting for 99 percent of the total seats in local government elections.

Mohamed Mchengerwa, the Regional Administration and Local Governments state minister in the President’s Office (PO-RALG) said in a statement on Thursday night that CCM had won by a landslide, meanwhile as opposition parties raised queries on irregularities.

Chadema obtained 97 seats in the tally, representing less than one percent of the poll results, with the minister affirming that in eight wards, there were candidates who had passed away thus necessitating a fresh poll, meanwhile as le 37 wards did not hold polls as scheduled due to various disturbances, including deaths of candidates after the nomination process was completed.

Kilwa District had two such wards, Nanyumbu (1), Itilima (1), Ikungi (1), Manyoni (1), Uyui (1), and Mbarali (1), while at the Sumbawanga municipal council, “no winner was declared as the votes between two candidates were tied.”

Twelve wards will repeat the voting as the results were tied, and nine wards will re-conduct elections as the sole candidate “failed to receive a sufficient number of votes.”`

The statement said that the ACT Wazalendo party won 11 seats, the Civic United Front (CUF) obtained ten seats, and NCCR Mageuzi won one seat.

Results for the position of ward chairman had CCM securing 62,728 seats, Chadema getting 853 seats, ACT Wazalendo 150 seats, CUF 78 seats and NCCR-Mageuzi secured 10 seats.

UDP secured six seats, UMD two seats and ADC one seat, it elaborated, while affirming that CCM secured 4,213 seats for the position of street chairman, Chadema getting 36 seats, ACT Wazalendo nine seats, CUF four seats and CHAUMA one seat.

In a statement,  CCM secured  said that opposition parties were running against state agencies rather than the ruling party, demanding that the poll be annulled and a new voting schedule set out.

It said that the entire election process, from the drafting of regulations, voter registration, candidate selection, voting, to the announcement of results, was compromised by election management authorities assisted by state agencies, including the security forces.

“The election process was marred by incidents of intimidation against citizens, especially those collecting nomination forms, the arrest and abduction of citizens, threats against party agents, and widespread use of fraudulent ballots,” he said.

Chadema on its part called for an emergency meeting of its national executive committee to discuss what had transpired during the civic polls.

John Mrema, the party’s director of protocol, communication and foreign affairs, said the party's position on the election will be made public after the meeting.

Among the party’s criticisms are that candidates and their agents were arrested at polling stations, and in some areas voting started late due to delays in the delivery of ballot papers or confusion with voter lists, as some books were sent to incorrect stations.

The statement pointed at ballot papers that were already marked before the voting process had even begun, urging the relevant authorities to “unconditionally release the party leaders and members who are being held in various locations.”