Zimpapers Logo

DAR ES SALAAM. — Tanzania’s ruling party yesterday anointed Minister for Works John Magufuli as its candidate for presidential elections due to be held in October, party officials said.

Magufuli (55) is widely expected to succeed President Jakaya Kikwete, who will be stepping down after his second and final term. Presidential, parliamentary and local polls are due to take place on October 25.

The ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party has been in power since independence in 1964, and currently has two-thirds of seats in parliament.

“This is the man we are sending for the campaign for our party,” said parliament Speaker and leading CCM member Anne Makinda, after ballots were counted in Tanzania’s administrative capital of Dodoma.

The party said Magufuli scored 87 percent of the votes, beating off Justice Minister Asha-Rose Migiro, a former UN deputy secretary-general and ex-foreign minister, and Amina Salum Ali, currently the African Union’s ambassador to Washington.

Magufuli had not initially been seen as a frontrunner, but was among the three shortlisted from a field of nearly 38 other candidates that included Vice-President Mohamed Bilal, Prime Minister Mizengo Pinda, former prime ministers Edward Lowassa and Frederick Sumaye.

Other aspirants included Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation Minister Bernard Membe, and the Deputy Minister for Science, Technology and Communications, January Makamba. Tanzania, with over 50 million people, is East Africa’s most populous country, with economic growth of more than 7 percent, according to the World Bank.

It was the first time that women aspirants were reaching this stage of nominations in the history of the ruling party. Had one of the women been voted for as the winner by the party’s national congress, it would have been a giant step towards the country making history as offering a woman a chance to run for presidency.

Over 300 members of the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) elected Magufuli, Migiro and Ali out of five aspirants who were earlier picked by the party’s central commit- tee.

Despite advances in other sectors, agriculture remains the key one, providing a quarter of gross domestic product, and employing three-quarters of the population. — AFP/Xinhua/Herald Reporter.