– Tensions in Zanzibar –
Outgoing President Jakaya Kikwete, who is not running having served his constitutional two-term limit, has ordered the police to boost security to ensure peaceful voting in the country of some 52 million people.
Kikwete, at a final rally for the CCM, made a rare direct attack on Lowassa – a long-time former colleague – who he called “corrupt and greedy”, and accused of seizing land illegally while lands minister.
“This is going to be the toughest, but most exciting election in the country’s history,” said veteran politician Pius Msekwa, a former CCM party vice-chairman, and vice chancellor of the University of Dar es Salaam.
Polls close as 4pm (1300 GMT), and election officials say they expect the results of the presidential race within three days.
“If you lose, accept defeat,” former Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan, who heads a team of Commonwealth election observers, said ahead of the vote.
As well as a presidential race, voters will also be casting ballots in parliamentary and local polls on Sunday, including on the semi-autonomous archipelago of Zanzibar, just off mainland Tanzania, which will also hold its own presidential elections.
Both Magufuli and Lowassa have made repeated calls for the preservation of peace and national unity in speeches denouncing tribalism, religious violence and corruption.
On Zanzibar, campaigning has been largely peaceful, but residents have stockpiled food and water, fearful of possible unrest after the polls on islands, famed for their pristine white sand beaches and UNESCO-listed architecture.
“I am happy, as the mood of the voting seems good – and the exercise started on time,” said Rahma Ahmed, after voting on the Indian Ocean Island.
Leading candidates in the Zanzibar vote are incumbent president Ali Mohamed Shein of the ruling CCM, and current vice-president Seif Sharif Hamad from the opposition Civic United Front (CUF), who are currently sharing power in a unity government.
“I am confident of victory, and ready to serve Zanzibaris for the second term,” Shein said, after casting his vote at a primary school in Bungi, a village some 20 kilometres (15 miles) south of Zanzibar town.
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