Zanzibar’s electoral commission on Wednesday said elections on the Indian Ocean islands – where the 500,000 registered electorate also voted for Tanzania’s national president – must be carried out again, citing “violations of electoral law”.
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“There is a need to hold fresh elections”, Zanzibar Election Commission Chairman Jecha Salim Jecha said in a statement, citing “gross violations”.
“We demand that NEC should do a verification of the results and recount the votes”, Lowassa said at a news conference in Tanzania’s commercial capital, Dar es Salaam.
On Monday, Zanzibar’s main opposition presidential candidate declared himself the victor before the results were officially announced.
The electoral commission and the ruling CCM party, in power since British colonial rule ended in 1961, have both dismissed opposition allegations of rigging.
The political future of Zanzibar, a semiautonomous archipelago off the cost of Tanzania, was thrown into doubt Wednesday when its election commission chief nullified results of an election that the opposition claimed it had won.
Results from the presidential race began trickling in on Monday, showing the CCM candidate, John Magufuli, leading the former prime minister Lowassa.
Seif Sharif Hamad from the opposition Civic United Front (CUF), the vice-president in the previous unity government, told reporters he had won Sunday’s polls, claiming to have seen official documents of final voting figures.
Zanzibar has experienced sectarian and political tensions in recent years-including several grenade explosions-with the unrest affecting the islands’ key tourist industry.
African Union Commission chief Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma has praised Tanzania for the conduct of the elections, but also warned candidates to put “their country above all other interests” as results are announced.
Incidents of violence and disturbance have been reported in Tanzania and Zanzibar as vote tallying enters the third day. Armed police were then deployed in Stone Town to break up crowds of opposition supporters who had gathered to celebrate. The CCM had disputed this.
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The elections in Tanzania are the most competitive in the country’s history, with four opposition parties forming the Ukawa coalition.
