Vote counting slow in Tanzanian elections

With vote counting going slowly after the presidential and parliamentary elections in Tanzania on 31 October tension is rising across the country.

The incumbent president, Jakaya Kikwete, for the ruling CCM party, who is running for a second term in office, is expected to win the majority of the popular vote. However the two opposition candidates Willibrord Slaa of the Chadema party, and Ibrahim Lipumba of the Civic United Front (CUF) are both expected to have put in a good showing and expectations are high. Slaa is running for president for the first time but Lipumba has contested every presidential election since the return of multi-party elections in the mid 1990s.

The National Electoral Commission (NEC) had expected to report results on Tuesday 1 November but it now looks as though official figures will be delayed for several days. The head of the NEC is reported to have told the BBC that final results would be declared on Friday