Tanzanians started this Wednesday not by working but by voting as their country's third multiparty general elections finally went underway.

Incumbent President Benjamin William Mkapa made this Wednesday a public holiday to facilitate the people to cast their votes on a workday which was picked to replace the original election date on the last Sunday of October.

President Mkapa is set to step down after having served his two constitutional five-year terms.

Over 47,000 polling stations opened at 07:00 in the morning ( 0400 GMT) and those on the Tanzania mainland are to close at 04:00 in the afternoon (1300 GMT) while those on the Indian Ocean archipelago of Zanzibar close one hour later.

The final results of the general elections will be out within three days of the polling day, according to the Tanzania National Electoral Commission which is the sole authority to announce the election results.

Ten of the country's 18 fully-registered political parties are vying for the presidency of the United Republic of Tanzania, of which the presidency has been held by the Chama Cha Mapinduzi party.

Wednesday's polls will also elect members to the National Assembly of the united republic and local government officials known as councilors for the mainland.

Residents in Zanzibar will also cast votes to elect the union president and local members to the union parliament.

Zanzibar, part of the united republic yet with its own president, cabinet, parliament and jurisdiction, already held its general elections on Oct. 30.

Wednesday's polls drew 213 foreign observers apart from 149 local observers.

The foreign observers have come from member countries of the Southern African Development Community Parliamentary Forum, African Union, European Union, and the Commonwealth.

Some Dar es Salaam-based embassies also participated in the observe mission.

Some 15.8 million Tanzanians have registered for this year's polls whereas some 10 million registered for the last polls in 2000. Tanzania started multiparty general elections in 1995 after it had shifted to multiparty politics in 1992.

Source: Xinhua