International Business Times quotes Africa Center Director J. Peter Pham on the competitive race between John Magufuli and Edward Lowassa for President of Tanzania:
While Lowassa has managed to draw large crowds to his rallies, experts said that, ultimately, Tanzanians may not vote for him because of his former ties to the ruling CCM party and his scandal-ridden past. “There’s clear popular enthusiasm for something different than the same old, same old CCM again,” said J. Peter Pham, director of the Africa Center at the Atlantic Council, a think tank in Washington, D.C. “It’s hard to run an anti-corruption campaign when he was forced to resign in 2008 under the shadow of financial impropriety.”
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“I think it’s going to be the most competitive race we’ve seen,” Pham said during a telephone interview. “The one major advantage that the ruling party has is the ground game. It’s a party that has been in power long enough that it’s the longest reigning ruling party in Africa.”