Tanzania opposition calls for boycott of Zanzibar vote re-run

The main opposition party in Tanzania’s semi-autonomous Zanzibar Islands has called for a boycott of a planned re-run of disputed presidential, parliamentary and municipal elections on the Indian Ocean archipelago on March 20.

Zanzibar’s electoral body annulled a previous ballot on Oct. 25 on grounds of fraud.

The opposition Civic United Front (CUF) said on Friday in Dar es Salaam that it would not take part in the vote re-run because it was illegal.

It said in a statement that a lawful election had already been conducted (in October), and warned of violence on the islands if the rescheduled ballot goes ahead.

“We urge all the people of Zanzibar to boycott this unlawful re-run election,’’ it said in a statement.

The CUF said a dialogue to form a government of all parties under its leadership should be held rather than a new vote.

Tanzania has been one of Africa’s most politically stable nations, but Zanzibar has been a hotbed of opposition to central government, with strong secessionist and Islamist voices.

Polls on the islands are usually closely fought and often disputed.

A party official said Zanzibar’s President, Ali Mohamed-Shein of the ruling CCM party, stood in the previous polls against his main challenger, Seif Sharrif Hamad of the CUF party, who has lost four elections since 1995 by narrow margins.

He said there were other presidential candidates from smaller parties, but elections in Zanzibar have always been a tight two-horse race between the CCM and CUF which has ruled mainland Tanzania for more than five decades.