Military

DATE=10/30/00

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=ZANZIBAR ELECTION (L / 3RD UPDATE)

NUMBER=2-268630

BYLINE=SCOTT STEARNS

DATELINE=ZANZIBAR

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

/// EDS: THIS REPORT UPDATES 2-268621, WITH NEW INFORMATION ///

INTRO: Zanzibars's election commission has rejected opposition demands that it scrap the results of Sunday's presidential election. As V-O-A Correspondent Scott Stearns reports from Zanzibar, Commonwealth observers say the vote on the semi-autonomous Indian Ocean island was "a shambles."

TEXT: Zanzibar's election commission says it will re-run the vote only in two districts where polling was canceled due to a lack of ballot papers. Votes cast at other stations on the island will be counted as usual.

The opposition Civil United Front is calling for the entire election to be repeated.

(The opposition's) presidential candidate, Seif Shariff Hamad, says all of the island's results should be canceled and a new election held with a new electoral commission. He questioned who would believe results after ballot boxes are kept so long without counting.

/// HAMAD ACT 1 ///

How can you keep these boxes without counting them for two or three months, or even for three days, with them only? So in practice, this election has been nullified. We have to start afresh.

/// END ACT ///

Commonwealth election observers expressed their sadness and deep disappointment with the vote, saying, "On the evidence of polling day, the elections should be held again, in their entirety."

Electoral commission chairman Abdul Rahman Mwini Jumbe says there is no reason to repeat the whole election when most districts voted without incident.

/// JUMBE ACT ///

We feel that those areas that have not been affected by these malpractices, they should be taken as official voting and we are talking about only two districts, and I cannot see how they are asking for the remaining part.

/// END ACT ///

While there were problems Sunday, ruling party presidential candidate Amani Abeid Karume says those people who did vote should have their votes counted.

/// KARUME ACT 1 ///

In the other areas, like the southern part of Zanzibar, the northern region, and the southern region, and Pemba as well in its totality, I believe we are satisfied because we haven't received any complaints from there. So in that case, I do not think it would be advisable to call for a nationwide election because only one region is affected.

/// END ACT ///

Mr. Karume says it will take money and time to organize another vote, something he believes could deny people their right to choose their own government.

/// KARUME ACT 2 ///

We want to continue with this process as soon as possible because you cannot deny the people their right to vote the government of their choice here. So if you want to extend this thing for a month, two, three it will be unacceptable. And if you are proposing that we should conduct a nationwide election here, that means you are proposing for an extension of this time so we are not accepting that.

/// END ACT ///

Mr. Karume says voting in suspended areas should be concluded as quickly as possible to get on with the business of governing the island.

His opponent, Mr. Hamad, has given the electoral commission one week to meet his demands and scrap all the Zanzibari returns. He has suggested an interim government to run the island until new elections can be organized, something Mr. Karume rejects.

/// OPT /// Canceling some of the returns here affects broader vote-counting in Tanzania's federal elections. The ruling party's Benjamin Mkapa is expected to win re-election as Union president, but it is now not clear when complete results from that race might be known without all of the ballots from Zanzibar.

/// OPT /// Since the islands are part of the Union, Mr. Hamad says there should be no Union president without counting island votes.

/// OPT // HAMAD ACT 2 ///

If all these results in Zanzibar are nullified, then how can they announce presidential results for the Union president? If they do so, it will be a president elected by one part of the union, while the other part is not involved in the election. So it is a very, very delicate position really where ZEC has brought us.

/// END ACT // END OPT ///

Mr. Hamad accuses the electoral commission of rigging the vote in favor of the ruling party. Commonwealth observers were less quick to assign blame.

/// OPT /// Their interim statement says, "The cause is either massive incompetence or a deliberate attempt to wreck at least part of this election." We are not yet in a position to know which. Either way," the statement continues, "the outcome represents a colossal contempt for ordinary Zanzibari people and their aspirations for democracy." /// END OPT ///

In calling for the vote to be held again, the Commonwealth team says Zanzibar's existing election management must first be reformed from top to bottom.

Mr. Karume says Commonwealth observers are here as guests, not here to tell Zanzibar what to do when it comes to its own elections. (Signed)

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