Election officials on Tanzania’s politically volatile Zanzibar archipelago met on Friday to consider a possible delay in polls set for this weekend after a postponement of the vote on the mainland.
Members of the Zanzibar Electoral Commission (ZEC) were discussing whether to follow the lead of their mainland counterparts who put off Sunday’s scheduled elections there until mid-December due to the death of an opposition vice-presidential candidate.
“We are meeting this morning to discuss the Zanzibar elections following the postponement of the union elections and we shall issue a statement after our discussion midday today,” said ZEC chairperson Masauni Yussuf Masauni.
Late on Thursday, the Tanzanian National Electoral Commission (NEC) postponed presidential, legislative and local polls on the mainland until December 18 due to the death of opposition candidate for vice-president Jumbe Rajab Jumbe.
However, that decision did not necessarily affect semi-autonomous Zanzibar, where voters will choose their own president and Parliament under the terms of its status in the Union of Tanzania formed between the islands and what was then Tanganyika in 1964.
Shortly after the postponement on the mainland was announced, members of the ZEC said the panel had decided to go ahead with the elections on Zanzibar on Sunday, and the meeting to reconsider the issue on Friday came as a surprise to some.
“Yesterday, [Thursday] we met and discussed and reached an agreement to continue with the Zanzibar elections,” said commissioner Nassor Seif, a member of the opposition Civic United Front (CUF).
“We agreed the Zanzibar elections must move ahead.
“I am very surprised to hear that one of our colleagues says we are going to meet today, [Friday]” he said, alleging that Tanzania’s ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM-Revolutionary Party) was pressing for a delay in the Zanzibar polls.
Mosi Kassim, a ZEC commissioner and CCM member, said the new meeting was being held to further scrutinise details of Zanzibar’s electoral laws and Constitution.
“Although we met yesterday, [Thursday] we have to meet again today, [Friday]” he said.
“By midday we shall have decided. We shall see in detail what the law says.” – AFP