Zanzibar’s opposition leader condemned weekend presidential and legislative elections as not free and fair, speaking on Monday after riot police fired tear gas and water cannons on his supporters.
Sunday’s balloting, following a campaign marked by violence and recrimination, saw voters on the ”spice islands” choose between the socialists who have ruled the semiautonomous islands for more than 30 years and an opposition promising privatisation and wholesale economic reform.
Opposition leader Seif Shariff Hamad said about 8 000 people were denied their right to vote in Zanzibar’s third elections since multiparty politics were restored in 1992. He was speaking after electoral authorities announced early results that showed the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi, or Revolutionary Party, taking nine seats in the main island and Hamad’s party winning all the 18 seats in the second island.
Earlier, citing reports from his own poll observers, Hamad had been upbeat. Riot police used tear gas and water cannon to disperse Zanzibaris celebrating what Hamad had called a clear early lead in the presidential and legislative elections.
The demonstrations began shortly after early-morning prayers.
Police arrested at least three men during a cat-and-mouse game with supporters of the opposition Civic United Front.
There were no reliable exit polls and electoral authorities said full legislative results were not expected until later on Monday, and then likely only for legislative races. Presidential results may not be announced until Tuesday.
Most polling stations had indicated at least an 80% turnout in a region with 507 000 voters.
Two previous elections, in 1995 and 2000, were marred by violence and fraud. Islamic radicals could find an opening in this devoutly Muslim region if Sunday’s vote is seen as flawed and proof that democracy cannot work here.
President Amani Karume from the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi had predicted victory.
”We believe we have the numbers,” Karume said Sunday. ”We don’t expect to lose.”
Police also had fired tear gas and water cannons on Sunday afternoon, chasing people protesting alleged election irregularities. Ruling-party militias beat suspected opposition supporters on the edges of the old city, known as Stone Town, on Sunday. Stone Town is an opposition stronghold.
In several of key constituencies for the opposition, police on Sunday trucked in hundreds of voters that local residents said should not be allowed to vote. Poll results, which are required to be posted outside the stations, could not be found at those locations on Monday and official results announced on the radio awarded those seats to the ruling party.
The leader of an African Union observer mission said on Monday that her group observed no irregularities and praised the Zanzibar Election Commission for staging a free and fair election. She said the violence reported by the media was not a serious problem.
Simai Abdulrahman, a presidential candidate for the tiny opposition National Reconstruction Alliance, condemned the vote, adding: ”The election was simply spoilt deliberately by electoral authorities.”
Associated Press reporters visited more than a dozen polling stations, and opposition-party agents complained about administrative problems and irregularities related to voter registration. Ruling-party agents did not report any problems.
Zanzibar is a semi-autonomous region of Tanzania in the Indian Ocean.
Elections also had been scheduled for Sunday on mainland Tanzania, but were postponed to December 18 because of the death of one of the vice-presidential candidates. — Sapa-AP