by Bayano Valy in Zanzibar – SANF 05 No 99
Zanzibar’s President, Amani Abeid Karume, has called on the opposition to work with the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) towards the development of Zanzibar.
Moments after his inauguration for a second five-year term, Karume told the media that the elections were over and “it´s time to go back to building of the country.”
The opposition has rejected the outcome of the 30 October poll which saw Karume defeat his main challenger, the Civic United Front (CUF) leader in Zanzibar, Seif Shariff Hamad. CCM won 30 of the 50 parliamentary seats being contested, almost entirely on the southern island of Unguja.
Hamad repeated his previous claims that elections were rigged. The opposition won 19 seats, including sweeping all 18 seats on the northern island of Pemba, confirmation of CUF’s popularity there. Elections in one constituency in Unguja were postponed to 18 December.
Zanzibar is a semi-autonomous part of the United Republic of Tanzania, but the elections for the Union president and parliament were postponed to 18 December, following the death of a vice-presidential candidate.
Karume told the media that the opposition should work with CCM within Zanzibar’s democratic institutions, mainly the House of Representatives, to use the mandate given to them by popular vote to participate in the region’s development.
He urged the leaders of the opposition to try their best and “restrain their followers, especially those motivated to cause violence.”
“I’d like to ask them to reject malpractices and go back to living their lives normally,” he said, adding that, “we’re a civilised nation and as such we’d like to see everyone living in peace.”
In two previous multi-party polls, violence and tension flared up after the Zanzibar Election Commission (ZEC) announced a CCM victory, and in 1995 CUF boycotted the House of Representatives for three years.
This time around the government deployed police and military forces to forestall any repeat of the violence of previous elections. This seems to have worked well and the main urban area, Stone Town, in Unguja has gone back to normal with the streets bustling with life.
Karume called on the international community to come back to Zanzibar and help his government to rebuild the economy. After the 1995 election, some western countries turned their backs on the archipelago.
“We’d like the donor community, especially those who went away in 1995 to come back. We want their support.”
