Newsademic British English edition 260

29th October 2015 
N e w s a d e m ic .co m ™
 - British English edition 
page 
15
T
a n z a n ia
 
electio n
Two important elections were held in 
Tanzania on 25th October. One was 
for the country’s president and the 
other for Tanzania’s parliament. The 
electoral commission is the organi­
sation that is in charge o f elections 
in Tanzania. On 29th October it an­
nounced the presidential election re­
sult. John Magufuli was declared the 
winner with 58% ofthe votes.
Tanzania is home to 50 million 
people. The country’s largest city 
is Dar es Salaam. Yet its capital is 
the smaller city o f Dodoma. Tanza­
nia contains three o f Africa’s best- 
known lakes. These are Lake Nyasa, 
in the south, Lake Tanganyika, in 
the west, and Lake Victoria, in the 
north. M ount Kilimanjaro is in Tan­
zania. It is a dormant volcano and 
the highest mountain in Africa. K ili­
manjaro last erupted hundreds of 
thousands o f years ago.
Tanzania used to be a German 
colony. Then, it was known as Ger­
man East Africa. After Germany’s 
defeat in the First World War (1914 
- 1918), the UK was invited to take 
control. In 1962 Tanganyika, as 
it was then known, became an in­
dependent nation. Two years later 
there was a revolution on Zanzibar. 
Zanzibar is a group o f islands, or 
archipelago, off the coast o f Tanza­
nia. The two large islands are called 
Zanzibar and Pemba.
During the revolution, local peo­
ple overthrew Zanzibar’s Arab lead­
er and his government. The leaders 
o f the revolution then agreed to 
merge, or join with, Tanganyika. 
The two countries were named the 
United Republic o f Tanganyika and 
Zanzibar. Six months later the name 
was changed to Tanzania. (The ‘tan ’ 
o f Tanzania comes from Tanganyi­
ka and the ‘zan’ is from Zanzibar.) 
For many years Tanganyika was a 
one party state. The country’s first 
multi party elections were held in 
1995. Nowadays, Zanzibar is an au­
tonomous, or ‘self-governing’ part 
o f Tanzania. People on the islands 
elect their own president and mem­
bers o f parliament.
Tanzania’s president, John M agufuli
The Chama Cha Mapinduzi 
(CCM) party has governed Tanza­
nia since it became an independ­
ent nation. Presidential elections 
take place every five years. Jakaya 
Kikwete won the 2005 and 2010 
elections. M r Kikwete is a mem­
ber o f CCM. He has been a popu­
lar president. However, in Tanzania 
a president can only serve for two 
five-year terms. This meant that M r 
Kikwete had to stand down. CCM 
selected M r Magufuli as the party’s 
presidential election candidate.
The main opposition group is 
called the Ukawa coalition. This 
coalition, or group, is made up of
several smaller opposition parties, 
which decided to work together. Its 
candidate for the presidential elec­
tion was Edward Lowassa. M r Lo- 
wassa used to be a member of CCM. 
He was M r Kikwete’s prime minis­
ter from 2005 to 2008. The election 
commission said that M r Lowassa 
had got 40% o f the votes. M r Lo- 
wassa was unhappy with the result. 
He claimed that many o f the votes 
had been miscounted.
Elections for the president and 
parliament o f Zanzibar took place 
on the same day. They did not go 
well. Officials organising these elec­
tions began fighting with each other. 
Reports said that some boxes of 
votes had been taken away and oth­
ers added. The day before the results 
were supposed to be declared, the 
election chief made an announce­
ment. He said that he had decided to 
annul, or cancel, the elections. They 
will now have to be held again at a 
later date. □
P