THERE has been a clear unanimity among election observers of the 2010 general elections held in October, especially on the question of whether or not the environment was conducive for people to freely exercise their democratic right to elect their preferred leadership.
Islamic propagation group (UAMSHO), Electoral Institute for the Sustainability of Democracy in Africa (EISA), European Union (EU), and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) observer missions have shown in their preliminary reports that the elections in Zanzibar were far better than the previous disputed elections.
The observer missions, both locally and internationally issued relatively similar, separate statements to the press, “it was observed that elections campaign and at the point of ballot, the elections were held in a peaceful and orderly manner, the polling arrangements made it possible for the voters to freely choose their preferred candidates by casting a secret ballot”.
In the preliminary reports, EISA, EU, TEMCO, and SADC congratulated the “people of Zanzibar, and the electoral commission for peaceful, free, and well-managed elections. However, the observers raised concern about transparency during the accumulation of the results. EU said that there was a breach of agreement by the electoral commission by not allowing observers to follow closely the accumulation of the results, “particularly at the district tallying centre before transferring the results to results centre for announcement.”
“Generally the Zanzibar Electoral Commission (ZEC) conducted the elections professionally in a remarkably peaceful environment, but unfortunately there was lack of transparency in some key areas,” said Mr David Martin, head of European Union Election Observation Mission (EU- MOU) at a press conference. Mr Martin, “Domestic and International observers as well as political party agents followed the aggregation of results on district level.
At the ZEC validation of results centre, the denial of access to political party agents and international and domestic observers not only raised doubts about the transparency of the process but also contradicted the assurances of previously agreed access given in the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the European Union and ZEC.”
The head of the mission said that EU EOM team perceived an imbalance in the requirements for voter registration between the mainland and Zanzibar, where citizens in Zanzibar had to comply with stricter conditions such as proof of residency, payment of procedural costs and discretionary authority of the Shehas. Evaluating media, TEMCO, EU, and UAMSHO said in their preliminary reports that there was an improvement in the state media in covering elections, but the ruling party CCM was given more space and time during campaign.
“State media particularly Television Zanzibar (TVZ), Radio Zanzibar and Zanzibar Leo newspapers displayed a great deal of bias in favour of CCM in their election reporting,” said Mr Bashiru Ali, TEMCO coordinator in Unguja Island. The observers also mentioned that the ruling party benefited from an historical control of the administrative structure that was sometimes indistinct from the well organized CCM party structure.
“In that context, the large number of election-related key positions directly or indirectly appointed by the president, who was also a candidate for re-election raised concerns about the independence of the electoral commission. Other areas of concern in the election process was during the campaign, TEMCO observers said that road traffic laws and regulations were violated by most party fans when vehicles transport them to and from Zanzibar town to public rallies.
The Tanzania and Zanzibar fourth general elections were observed by many groups with some
of them deploying teams in all of the country over periods ranging from one week to more than a month. There were also hundreds of local observers, as well as scores of local and international journalists. The ruling CCM party clinched to the presidency position and a majority seats in Zanzibar House, winning 28 of the 50 contested seats while the main opposition Civic United Front (CUF) garnered 22, an increase compared with in the past elections.
CUF presidential candidate Maalim Seif Sharif Hamad in the election immediately accepted the results and promised to work with the winner Dr Ali Mohamed Shein, CCM’s candidate, in the new Government of National Unity (GNU). However, the opposition party indicated some “serious discrepancies” in official presidential figures released by the Zanzibar Electoral Commission (ZEC), the body in charge of running the elections. Hamad has asked his supporters to place aside elections and focus at developing the islands and the next general elections (2015).
He said Zanzibaris needs to work together and ignore anti- GNU people. The polling process, from the campaign trail, voting and vote counting, was characterised by a remarkable climate of peace. This was a big surprise to the world and a sharp contrast with the runup to the 2000 and the 2005 polls, which were marred by tension and violence. The climate of peace was attributed to several factors including the political reconciliation started by then Mr Amani Karume, and Seif Sharif Hamad in November last year, the decision to go for GNU through referendum, and the leadership of all the contesting parties who spoke strongly against violent behaviour during their campaign trail.
The police were also commended for being organized and operating relatively, “without fear or favour”. In addition, the smooth and efficient manner in which the elections were run left observers full of praise. “The electoral staffs conducted their work professionally in the process,” the observers’ preliminary reports said. Expect the incident of councillors’ ballot papers misallocation in nine wards, ZEC did not run out of materials, the polls opened on time, which does not always happen in many countries, and the police officers at all polling stations were friendly.
The observers however, outlined a number of issues which they recommend for further improvement. Issues that featured frequently in the observer reports relate to the need to allow more access to the public media by the opposition, and strengthening of voter registration and voter education in order to avoid a situation where many voters are turned away as was the case this year.
According to ZEC, this was the lowest turn-out ever in both registration and voting. Registered were 407, 658 with total votes cast 364, 924 (89.52 per cent), valid votes 358, 815 (98.38 per cent), and spoiled votes of 6,109 (1.67 per cent). “There is need to improve civic education in relation to voter registration and educate voters about the significance of registering and inspecting the voters’ roll, and voting,” suggested observers.
The observers called for a “spirit of cooperation and political tolerance and the responsible role of political parties and leaders” in the post election phase, adding that this is critical to recuperate the “momentum of nation building and reconciliation”.
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