More clashes in Zanzibar after polls

ZANZIBAR – Soldiers fired teargas and water cannons yesterday to break up jubilant opposition supporters claiming victory in weekend elections on Tanzania’s volatile Zanzibar archipelago, witnesses said.

The troops, part of a massive security contingent deployed to the semi-autonomous islands for Sunday’s polls, chased away a crowd of about 60 singing and chanting members of the Civic United Front (CUF) in the capital of Stone Town, they said. At least five people were arrested as the soldiers unleashed a deluge of water and tear gas on the group who took refuge in the narrow side streets of the old city, still insisting they had beaten the ruling Revolutionary Party (CCM).”Let us decorate CUF with flowers after our victory,” they chanted.”We have defeated CCM; Bye bye CCM.”A tense stand-off between troops and opposition supporters was continuing at 8am as authorities said any victory celebration would have to wait until the formal announcement of the returns.They “have to wait for the official announcement of the results,” Zanzibar police commander Ramadan Kinyongo told AFP.The scene unfolded a day after Zanzibari voters cast ballots for a president, parliament and local councillors in polls marred by sporadic violence, disturbances and opposition allegations of widespread fraud.At least seven people were injured in clashes between the security forces, pro-government militia and supporters of the CCM and CUF, which alleged the ruling party had trucked in bogus voters to steal the polls.Most of the violence took place when CUF supporters challenged groups of people being escorted to polling stations by police and soldiers who they claimed were going to cast illegal votes for the CCM, witnesses said.International election observers said they had seen flagrant cases of voter fraud as polling station officials allowed people not listed on the voter rolls to cast ballots, something also observed by foreign reporters on the scene.”They’re doing it in broad daylight, and couldn’t give a damn about us observers,” one observer told AFP on condition of anonymity.However, the African Union delegation praised what it said was the generally peaceful conduct of the elections, although it declined to say whether it believed the polls had been free and fair.”Largely the elections went well,” said Baleka Mbeta, the head of the AU monitoring team, praising the Zanzibar Electoral Commission (ZEC) for its work.The ZEC, which opted to go with Sunday’s polls despite the postponement of Tanzania’s national elections, is not expected to release results until mid-week at the earliest.Despite the fraud charges, CUF presidential candidate Seif Sharif Hamad, claimed late Sunday to have a strong early lead with 61,3 per cent of the votes against 37,6 per cent for incumbent Amani Karume of the CCM.Some 500 000 of Zanzibar’s one million population were eligible to vote in the election which was held amid fears of widespread unrest after a campaign punctuated by numerous incidents in which nearly 200 people were injured.- Nampa-AFPAt least five people were arrested as the soldiers unleashed a deluge of water and tear gas on the group who took refuge in the narrow side streets of the old city, still insisting they had beaten the ruling Revolutionary Party (CCM).”Let us decorate CUF with flowers after our victory,” they chanted.”We have defeated CCM; Bye bye CCM.”A tense stand-off between troops and opposition supporters was continuing at 8am as authorities said any victory celebration would have to wait until the formal announcement of the returns.They “have to wait for the official announcement of the results,” Zanzibar police commander Ramadan Kinyongo told AFP.The scene unfolded a day after Zanzibari voters cast ballots for a president, parliament and local councillors in polls marred by sporadic violence, disturbances and opposition allegations of widespread fraud.At least seven people were injured in clashes between the security forces, pro-government militia and supporters of the CCM and CUF, which alleged the ruling party had trucked in bogus voters to steal the polls.Most of the violence took place when CUF supporters challenged groups of people being escorted to polling stations by police and soldiers who they claimed were going to cast illegal votes for the CCM, witnesses said.International election observers said they had seen flagrant cases of voter fraud as polling station officials allowed people not listed on the voter rolls to cast ballots, something also observed by foreign reporters on the scene.”They’re doing it in broad daylight, and couldn’t give a damn about us observers,” one observer told AFP on condition of anonymity.However, the African Union delegation praised what it said was the generally peaceful conduct of the elections, although it declined to say whether it believed the polls had been free and fair.”Largely the elections went well,” said Baleka Mbeta, the head of the AU monitoring team, praising the Zanzibar Electoral Commission (ZEC) for its work.The ZEC, which opted to go with Sunday’s polls despite the postponement of Tanzania’s national elections, is not expected to release results until mid-week at the earliest.Despite the fraud charges, CUF presidential candidate Seif Sharif Hamad, claimed late Sunday to have a strong early lead with 61,3 per cent of the votes against 37,6 per cent for incumbent Amani Karume of the CCM.Some 500 000 of Zanzibar’s one million population were eligible to vote in the election which was held amid fears of widespread unrest after a campaign punctuated by numerous incidents in which nearly 200 people were injured.- Nampa-AFP