Opposition supporters gesture as they chant slogans outside the
headquarters of the Civic United Front (CUF) in Zanzibar on October 30,
2015. PHOTO | TONY KARUMBA |
AFP
By CHRISTOPHER KIDANKA
In Summary
- The cancellation prompted the observer missions and key development partners to pressure ZEC to proceed with the announcement of the winner to avert political crisis and possible blood
Amina Yusuf Mohammed peddles street food locally known as
urojo at Forodhani in downtown Zanzibar. The mother of two now wonders
whether things will be back to normal as the political climate heats up
following last week’s poll annulment.
She recalls how things went sour back in 2001 when post-election
violence erupted claiming the lives of over 60 people. Out of the 520
people who fled Zanzibar to Shimoni in Mombasa, 320 went to Somalia, and
only 38 returned voluntarily on July 6, 2012, according to the UNHCR.
“We are all frightened about what could happen in the next few days,” she said.
On Wednesday, October 28, the people of Zanzibar were expecting
the Zanzibar Electoral Commission (ZEC) chairman, Jecha Salim Jecha, to
announce the winner of the presidential election. But he came out with
shocking statement:
“I, Jecha Salim Jecha, exercising the powers bestowed in me,
declare all election results null and void… a fresh election will be
conducted on a date to be announced later.”
The cancellation prompted the observer missions and key
development partners to pressure ZEC to proceed with the announcement of
the winner to avert political crisis and possible bloodshed.
Four observer missions — the African Union, the European Union
and SADC — have issued statements calling on ZEC to identify what went
wrong and rectify it instead of nullifying the results, which is likely
cause tension.
Mr Jecha said he had annulled the entire results, citing gross irregularities.
He mentioned the irregularities as misunderstanding among ZEC
commissioners who wanted to resort to a physical fight during the
commission’s meeting and “were behaving more as representatives of their
parties than commissioners of ZEC.”
He mentioned other reasons as the presence of polling stations
in the CUF stronghold of Pemba that had more voters than those
registered in the register.
Mr Jecha said ZEC was informed that some ballot boxes were
removed from the polling stations and the tallying was done somewhere
else while some agents of political parties were denied access to the
polling stations. The other reason was that Civic United Front (CUF)
assumed the role of ZEC and declare dits candidate a winner.
The politically fragile Isles of Zanzibar may plunge into
political chaos after the CUF presidential candidate, Seif Sharif Hamad
protested the annulment, and James Mbatia, Ukawa coalition co-chair,
charging that the annulment was because the opposition had won.
The Ukawa coalition, wants mainland election also anulled,
saying it cannot be free of Zanzibar irregularities “because the two
election are conducted in parallel.”
Mr Hamad claimed that the decision to annul the results came
after ZEC’s effort to rig the election in favour of CCM candidate proved
futile.
He said he does not recognise the cancellation and the tallying should continue and the true winner be declared
The five-time presidential contestant said the decision to
annul the result was the chairman’s personal decision, addinghe did not
consult his colleagues and so it was null and void.
Early last week, the CUF presidential candidate issued a
statement saying he had seen the poll results, which gave him victory
over CCM’s incumbent president, Dr Ali Mohamed Shein and urged Mr Jecha
to announce the results without delay.
He urged President Jakaya Kikwete to facilitate a smooth transition of power in order for peace to prevail.
“We urge the sitting president to concede defeat as we did in
2010,” said Mr Hamad in a statement that went viral on social media.
According to the Zanzibar Constitution of 1984, announcing poll results is the sole responsibility of the ZEC.
But CUF deputy secretary-general Ismail Jussa said that what Mr
Hamad did was only to release figures he got from his agents and that he
did not declare himself winner.
Legal experts say the annulment of the Zanzibar election, which
was done parallel with that of the Union, cannot leave the latter
irregularity-free, and, so the Union election which has seen CCM’s Dr
John Magufuli declared winner, should also be canceled.
But National Electoral Commission chairman, Judge Damian Lubuva
was quick to clarify. He said the two elections are done under two
separate laws and supervised by two different independent bodies, the
ZEC for Zanzibar and NEC on the mainland.
Zanzibar Law Society (ZLS) said the decision to annul the
results contradicts earlier announcement of some of the results in 31
constituencies out of the total 54 by the same commission, terming the
decision a legal blunder.
ZLS president Awadh Ali Said said that according to Zanzibar
Constitution of 1984 article 119(10), ZEC as a body has to reach its
decision through consultations and in agreement with a quorum made up of
the chairman or his deputy and not less than four commissioners.
He said the decision did not pass through this procedure.
Additional reporting by Erick Kabendera
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