Objection on the ground that the Applicant failed to exhaust local remedies
31. The Respondent State argues that the:
[a]pplicant never made an attempt to exhaust the available local remedies nor has
he given the Respondent the opportunity to address his alleged grievances. The
right to appeal is also provided under the Constitution of the United Republic of
Tanzania
together with various enabling
statutory provisions.
Therefore,
it is
indeed improper for the Applicant at this stage to raise matters which could have
been sufficiently addresses within the national justice system of the Respondent
State prior to the application before this Honourable Court.
32.On the basis of the above, the Respondent State argues that the Court should find
the Application inadmissible.
33.The Applicant submits that there is no remedy within the judicial system
Respondent State to address
the violations that he is alleging.
grounds to substantiate his assertion. Firstly, he argues that
of the
He raises three
article 74(12) of the
Respondent State’s Constitution which provides that “no court shall have power to
inquire into anything
functions
in
done
accordance
by the Electoral
with
the
Commission
provisions
of
this
in the discharge
Constitution”
of its
ousts
jurisdiction of domestic courts in all cases involving acts or omissions
the
by the
Electoral Commission.
34.Secondly,
he contends that article 41(7) of the Respondent State’s Constitution
which provides that “when a candidate is declared by the Electoral Commission to
have been duly elected in accordance with this Article, then no court of law shall
have
any jurisdiction to inquire into the election of that candidate”
recourse
to judicial
presidential
elections.
remedies
for the
purposes
In the Applicant’s
view,
of challenging
article 41(7)
the
prohibits
results
contradicts
of
article
13(6)(a) of the said Constitution and thus is unconstitutional. The Applicant further
argues that the Respondent State’s Court of Appeal has already ruled that it does
not have the power to declare any provision of the Constitution unconstitutional.
9