Several CCM and CUF Members of the Zanzibar House of Representatives joined forces in January to call for an end to political confrontation on the Isles and for more concentration on development.

The Zanzibar Electoral Commission (ZEC) said that complaints among the losers were common and that, during the election, they said that everything had been OK. But, on election day, when they realised that they had lost the election, everything went wrong.
Among the shortcomings in Zanzibar, which had been widely reported, were the management of the Electoral Register. According to Prof Samwel Mushi of the University of Dar es Salaam, some people had voting cards but could not find their names on the displayed lists of the register. There was a need for ZEC to review the law and ensure that the list was displayed at least a week before the election in order to solve some of the problems. Intimidation of the voters was another problem. The exceptionally high presence of security forces during registration and on the polling day may have made some people decide to remain indoors. The Inspector of Police had declared an operation code-named ‘Operation Dondola’ which was heavily manned by regular police, FFU and paramilitary groups based in Zanzibar. “In some places people going to registration centres met police barriers and were interrogated. Some people may have decided to turn back” he said. Continue reading →

This daily diary was originally intended to cover the whole of the election in Tanzania but, three days before it was due to be held, the death of one of the Union Vice-presidential candidates caused the election on the mainland to be postponed until December 14th in accordance with the constitution. It was possible therefore for me to spend more time witnessing the election in Zanzibar but no time for the final stages of the elections for the Union presidency and for the National Assembly in Dodoma – Editor.

Posters in Nkrumah St, Dar. Kikwete’s slogan “Ari Mpya, Nguvu Mpya, Kasi Mpya” roughly translates as “renewed enthusiasm, vigour and a faster pace”
23rd October. It is obvious that there is an election going on. All the way from the airport smiling photographs of Mr Jakaya Kikwete, the candidate of the ruling Chama cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party look down upon you. There are thousands of them. Small ones on lamp-posts and massive ones on billboards. There are also other posters, simpler in design and less colourful, from the more affluent of the 17 opposition political parties involved in the elections. 24th October. Morning. To the headquarters of the opposition CHADEMA party which presently has four MP’s in the National Assembly. This time it hopes for at least 20, according to Acting Secretary General Shaid Ally Akwilombe who explains to me how the party’s dynamic young presidential candidate Freeman Mbowe (44) has vastly raised the party’s image, by campaigning in a helicopter.

Freeman Mbowe (photo Peter Mgongo)

He has been holding up to ten meetings a day, often in remote places where a presidential candidate has never been seen before. Continue reading →

ZANZIBAR PRESIDENCY ELECTION RESULTS

Continue reading →

November 2nd. Immediately after the results were declared, residents of Pujini village in North Pemba fled their homes after a KMKM soldier disappeared. Other soldiers retaliated later by raiding the village and beating and robbing people….(later, on 16th November): ‘Police recovered the body of a soldier who was allegedly murdered by opposition party supporters. According to eyewitnesses, the deceased was abducted while riding a motorcycle with a colleague, who escaped, and was beaten to death by unidentified people. The police said that two suspects had appeared in the regional court in connection with the death – Guardian. Continue reading →

THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

In a paper published in Oxford University Press’s African Affairs in August 2005 Ben Rawlence gave the background to the unhappy history of elections in Zanzibar. Extracts:
The 2000 elections were cancelled and then re-run but were subsequently boycotted by the opposition. In the 1995 elections the official margin between the CCM and CUF was only 0.4%.
Before that, the last elections held on the islands under a British mandate in 1963 precipitated a revolution. British gerrymandering ensured a victory for the Zanzibar National Party (ZNP) in alliance with another party. Despite forming a government, these twp parties only commanded 46% of the national vote, whereas the Afro-Shirazi Party (ASP) won 54%. The ZNP with its roots among Zanzibar’s elite, left the constitutional monarchy unchanged and the Sultan on his throne. After only a month, the Government and the Sultan were overthrown in the bloody revolution of January 1 1964. The ‘Revolutionary (now CCM) Government’ of Zanzibar has ruled ever since.
Zanzibar’s first President, Abeid Karume, agreed to the establishment of a Union between Zanzibar and the mainland of Tanzania creating the new state called Tanzania in 1964. The second President, Aboud Jumbe, supervised the union between the mainland’s Tanzanian African National Union (TANU) party and the ASP, forming the Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM – the Party of the Revolution) in 1977.
Some observers see the current political division between CCM and the CUF as nothing more than a reincarnation of the old 1963 divisions. However, although these historical associations undoubtedly have some relevance to older voters, well over half the voters were born since the Revolution and around 45% are under 30. Rawlence goes on: In fact, the current divisions between the two parties are more rooted in events that have taken place since 1964. In the 1963 elections, the ASP won 44% of the vote in the northern island of Pemba but only two seats. At the elections in 2000 and by-elections in Pemba of 2003, CCM’s own official figures put their share of the vote at around 15%. On Unguja island, the south and central regions have remained faithful to CCM but Zanzibar town and parts of the north that were always oriented towards the mainland, have now become either CUF seats or marginal seats. CUF officials claim that of the 32 seats on Unguja, they now have a majority of potential voters in 13. CCM denies this but some CCM officials are said to privately accept the figures. It was after CCM appeared to be losing the supposedly safe CCM seat of Rahaleo in the 2000 elections that police were ordered to seize ballot boxes and the election was cancelled.

PARTY POLICIES
In all previous elections in Tanzania the emphasis has been on personalities rather than polices. This election might be different.
President Karume claims to have done much during his first term. He refers to the Chake Chake Road in Pemba linking Mkoani port with the rest of the towns and villages in the area; improved water supplies; achievement of Millennium Development Goals in education – every child who is at the age of going to school goes to school. Karume has also eased political tensions with the result that international donors have resumed aid. He plans to complete the construction of the Michenzani flats – work stopped during the First Phase Government under his father.
CUF, which is a member party of ‘Liberal International’, is proposing some radical new polices, especially in its Zanzibar stronghold. These include privatisation of the clove industry and the other state-run organisations including those concerned with oil, insurance, tourism, together with lots of public housing and the state farms which were established after the 1964 revolution.

WHAT WILL HAPPEN THIS TIME IN ZANIBAR?
CCM has admitted that holding on to power in Zanzibar is going to be difficult but there is a lot at stake for both parties and it is this factor which creates the political tension for which Zanzibar is renowned.
Acccording to Rawlence, CCM is divided about the causes of its woes. Presidents Karume and Mkapa say that the opposition is fuelled by troublemakers who are intent on power at any cost. In recent speeches, they have both called the opposition, ‘people of violence’. They have suggested that CUF is motivated variously by Islamic fundamentalism, Zanzibari nationalist secessionism and foreign intervention from the Gulf States as well as Britain. However, according to Dr Mohamed Bilal, former CCM Chief Minister, who recently challenged incumbent President Karume for the 2005 CCM presidential nomination, the President has failed to deliver on CCM’s promises to the people. Bilal was persuaded to withdraw his challenge by President Mkapa at the last minute before the final vote at the National Executive Committee of CCM in Dodoma on 3rd May.

Seif Sharrif Hamad (CUF Presidential Candidate)

Rawlence quotes CUF Zanzibar Presidential candidate, Seif Shariff Hamad, as saying that CCM is guilty of corruption and economic mismanagement; discrimination against people of Arab or Pemban ethnicity; ceding too much sovereignty to the Union government over energy, customs duties, and security; and politicization of the security forces and civil service as well as abuse of human rights.
In October 2001, following the violent January riots, CCM and CUF signed a historic agreement, called ‘Muafaka’ (see earlier issues of Tanzanian Affairs – Editor) which provided a framework for ensuring free and fair elections in 2005. Since then a constitutional amendment has been passed, the electoral laws have been reviewed and the Zanzibar Electoral Commission (ZEC) has been overhauled. ZEC has just completed a nationwide computerized registration process to create a permanent voters’ register.

President Amani Abeid Karume (CCM Zanzibar Presidential Candidate)

However, other Muafaka provisions including a reform of the judiciary have not been implemented according to CUF, the police and security organs are still heavily politicized and compensation promised to the victims of the shootings of January 2001 has not been paid. The Muafaka Committee has started meeting again on a regular basis which is encouraging news.
Many observers believe that a government of national unity is the only solution for Zanzibar but CCM has said that it is opposed to this. Continue reading →