THE coalition of four opposition political parties (UKAWA) has faulted the report of a survey on the state of politics in the country carried out by a local research NGO, Twaweza, with a topic “Should the election be held today,” saying that the report does not reflect reality in the field.
Addressing journalist in Dar es Salaam Ukawa co-chairman Mr James Mbatia said that the report has exaggerated reality and meant to twist people’s mind ahead of the general election which penciled for October 25, this year.
He said the report has to be refuted as it is missing facts to clear doubts that have been raised by analysts and other citizens. “We are upset by the report; it does not reflect the reality.
If you look at the report, you will find that it has compared only two candidates while there are six candidates,” he said. “The report by Twaweza does not recognize the presence of other presidential candidates of other parties apart from our coalition, this is unfair and should not be entertained especially opinion surveys,” added Mr Mbatia, who is National Chairman of NCCR-Mageuzi.
He pointed out weaknesses found in the report including data disparity, irrelevance of the topic, unawareness on the Ukawa concept which according to him has been miss-interpreted and unequal opportunities given to political parties.
“The survey included some parties which are not nominating for the presidential post, good example is NCCR- Mageuzi and CUF which together supports Chadema’s candidate Mr Edward Lowassa,” he said.
He added that the survey did not cover opinion from Zanzibar which is part of Tanzania hence losing its relevance and meaning to the public. In other development, Mr Mbatia said the coalition is ready for any political debates on general election but they will field national leaders instead of their candidates.
“We shall field national political leaders in the debates as they are the ones who prepared election manifestos. This will prove efficiency and commitment of political leaders on their policies to be presented to the public,” he explained.
Earlier this week, a Non Governmental local organization Twaweza announced a report on a survey carried on Tanzania mainland regions on political situation in the country ahead of the general election.
The report suggested that Chama cha Demokrasia na Maendeleo (Chadema) is the second most popular party behind CCM by a significant margin compared to other opposition parties, it furthermore stated that there has been a slight decline in citizens who will vote for Chadema presidential candidate, MP’s or Councilors.
Apart from CCM and the parties forming UKAWA, only ACT-Wazalendo was mentioned by 1 per cent or more of the population in any of these categories.
When asked directly to name the presidential candidate they would vote for, 65 per cent of citizens chose the CCM candidate, Dr John Magufuli, while 25 per cent mentioned the CHADEMA (and UKAWA) candidate, Mr Edward Lowassa.
The remaining 10 per cent of respondents chosen from among the six other presidential candidates, refused to answer or were undecided. However, data collection occurred before some parties, including ACT-Wazalendo, had named their presidential candidate.
Culled from Daily News
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