Anxiety heightened in Zanzibar municipality yesterday when security was stepped up at key sports as the results of Sunday’s Zanzibar presidential election.
The election was held only in the Isles but simultaneously with the Union presidential and parliamentary polls as well as that for Zanzibar House of Representatives and civic elections for both sides of the United Republic of Tanzania.
The most noticeable sign of enhanced security was at the Zanzibar Electoral Commission (ZEC) poll results tallying centre beginning roundabout 1 p.m.
Heavily armed security personnel arrived at the centre at Bwawani Hotel soon after ZEC chairman Jecha Salim Jecha finished announcing the preliminary presidential election results for 18 Unguja constituencies.
No one was permitted to enter or leave the centre for the next three hours, as it was surrounded by security personnel in no mood to take any chances.Journalists, ZEC staff and a section of European Union election observers then in the building were stranded for some time and telephone and internet services soon went mysteriously dead.
There was no statement on the situation from either ZEC or security officials save for the announcement that everyone who around would have to stay indoors until further notice.
Live radio and TV transmissions of the election results were switched off. Azam TV, the only station until then broadcasting live from the centre, was ordered to suspend operations at once, a directive the crew heeded.
Ukawa-endorsed Civic United Front (CUF) Zanzibar presidential candidate Seif Shariff Hamad, who on Monday morning declared that he had won the election at the expense of CCM’s flag bearer Zanzibar President Dr Ali Mohamed Shein, arrived at the centre under tight security.
He went straight into the ZEC offices but did not stay long, having spent no longer than two minutes before leaving.
Sources told The Guardian that Hamad, who is also Zanzibar First Vice President under the Isles’ Government of National Unity, had brought the forms of the tallied election results on the strength of which he claimed on Monday that he had garnered 200,077 votes, putting him ahead of Dr Shein, who he claimed got 178,363 votes.
After his Monday morning’s public claims, Hamad called upon ZEC to officially announce the final results without delay, adding that his figures were based on the electoral body’s official results forms he received from CUF agents all over the Isles.
Soon after Hamad made his claims, the town burst into celebratory chants, forcing police to respond with tear gas canisters and pepper spray in a bid to keep people off the streets.
The cheerful supporters had almost immediately responded to Hamad’s public claims by thronging the streets with songs of victory, calling for ZEC to declare the CUF candidate the winner.
Short-lived commotion then started at Mlandege and the normally most bustling square in Unguja, Darajani, where CUF presumed faithful had began to hurl stones at police vehicles.
The chanting supporters, mainly youth, said they knew that they had won the race and insisting that they have been extremely patient for years and it would be undemocratic for anyone to attempt to deny them victory.
They said any delay in announcing the election results could fuel chaos, adding that the government was trying to rig an election that had gone well at the voting stage.
Police fired tear gas canisters in a move to disperse them from staging illegal demonstrations, but the chanting crowds were not impressed and continued with their plans.
Some roads were closed as armed police and police detectives drove around in parts of Stone Town in a strategic move to contain the enraged mobs.
SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN
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