[Oman-l] Not so good in Zanzibar

[BaaboodA@aol.com]

Here is an article about the recent elections in Zanzibar from the Economist 
print edition Nov 2nd 2000.

Abdulla

Tanzania’s elections 
Not so good in Zanzibar

IN MOST of Tanzania, the election on October 29th was broadly fair. As 
expected, the incumbent, Benjamin Mkapa, will be returned as president. But 
in partially autonomous Zanzibar, which was voting for its own president and 
parliament, as well as for the United Republic of Tanzania’s president and 
parliament, it was a shambles, leading to charges of vote-rigging and 
intimidation.

Some outraged Zanzibaris poured into the narrow streets of the capital to 
protest and throw stones. The police met them with teargas and bullets. By 
mid-week a tense calm emerged, after officials said that new elections would 
be held in 16 of the 50 Zanzibari constituencies. An inquiry has been 
promised into the election mess. But the chances of a fair vote remain slim.

The vote had gone seriously wrong. In areas that the opposition Civic United 
Front (CUF) could have been expected to win, voting papers turned up late. 
Voters were made to wait for as long as 12 hours, or told to cast their 
ballots elsewhere. Some ballot-boxes and papers were stolen, and children and 
non-Zanzibaris were seen voting for the ruling party. Before the vote, CUF 
had almost no access to radio or newspapers, and its posters were 
conspicuously absent. Immediately afterwards, observers from the Commonwealth 
said that “the elections should be held again in their entirety”. Quite so, 
said the opposition, demanding a new vote and reform of the incompetent 
electoral council.

The CUF, angry that its demands are not being met, says that it will boycott 
the partial rerun which is expected on November 5th. But, rigging and all, 
the opposition would at least have had a chance to win the Zanzibari 
presidency. A boycott could keep it in the wilderness for five more years. 

Yet the CUF has reason to be angry. Five years ago, in the country’s first 
multi-party election, Zanzibar’s president was re-elected with 50.2% of the 
vote, squeezing out the CUF’s candidate, Sharif Hamad. In that election the 
voting was probably fair, but the results were rigged. In 1997 a by-election 
won by the CUF came to nothing after 18 party activists, including members of 
the local parliament, were thrown in prison and charged with treason. They 
have still not been tried. More public protest, and possibly violence, is 
expected. Mr Hamad, who is again running for Zanzibar’s presidency, said 
before the election that if the results were rigged again “there will be 
bloodshed definitely, there will really be a civil war.” 

After the flawed election in 1995, international aid for Zanzibar was cut 
off; this time, aid for the whole of Tanzania could be at risk. But Mr Mkapa, 
whose party also rules in Zanzibar, is loth to help the CUF, which he sees as 
bent on independence. The islands were yoked into the union in 1964 after a 
civil war. Deep resentment persists between Muslims of Arab descent and black 
Africans from the mainland. With their lucrative tourist and spice trade, the 
islands are a good deal richer than the rest of the country. Many Zanzibaris 
are attracted by the opposition’s call for change, but a bad election may 
encourage them to see independence as a way of getting it