Kikwete loses ground to opposition parties in Tanzanian election campaign

17 Oct, 2010

With less than two weeks to go before the presidential and parliamentary elections in Tanzania on 31 October the polls disagree about how far the incumbent president Jakaya Kikwete is ahead in the race. But both are in agreement that on present showing he looks set to get much less than the 80 per cent he won in the last elections in 2005. Kikwete, heading the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi party (CCM) is running for his second and last term in office.

A recent poll from the University of Dar es Salam unit Redet gives Kikwete 71.2 per cent of the vote. Another, by Synovate, puts his rating at only 61 per cent.

The Redet poll gives the candidate of the leading opposition Chadema party, Willibrord Slaa, 12.3 per cent and Ibrahim Lipumba of the Civic United Front (CUF) 10.3 per cent. However the Synovate poll puts Slaa