Civic United Front Secretary General Seif Shariff Hamad has declared that a repeat of the Zanzibar presidential election was not an option for the opposition party.
He told the media in Dar es Salaam yesterday that the idea of a re-election was baseless, lacked a legal basis and was intended to make the Isles to fall under an unconstitutional leadership.
Hamad, who sought the Zanzibar presidency during the October 2015 General Election as a CUF candidate and was Zanzibar’s First Vice President, said buying the re-run proposal could lead to chaos and confusion as well as a constitutional and legal crisis.
He said that CCM has been pushing for re-election after the Zanzibar Electoral Commission (ZEC) controversially declared the earlier poll null and void “simply because it (CCM) wants to protect its political interests after having lost in October”.
According to Hamad, the suggestion to go for a re-run was untenable “because the decision to nullify the October 25 election lacks legal grounds”.“Should that thought be implemented, it may create illegal bases upon which future elections may be adversely affected,” he said.
He added that there is lack of evidence on the irregularities claimed to have marred the General Election and serious challenges in forming a new electoral commission.
He said that during meetings that discussed the political situation in Zanzibar, President Dr Ali Mohamed Shein and Second Vice President Seif Ali Iddi were pushing for re-election and defended the position by the ZEC Chairman to nullify the election results.
On several occasions, he said, CCM has been asked to submit evidence on the allegations that the Isles elections were sabotaged but it has failed to fulfil the requirement.
“I have been insisting on the need to respect the people’s constitutional decision of on October 25 last year of which saw local and foreign observers and the Commission Chairman confirm that the elections were free and fair,” he said.
He said that since the parties involved in the talks have failed to reach consensus, we decided that a full report on all meetings held should be prepared and presented to them for approval and then be submitted to their respective political parties.
To amicably resolve the Zanzibar political standoff, Hamad suggested, ZEC chairman Jecha Salim Jecha must resign or be suspended for violating the Isles’ Constitution and allowing the ZEC vice chairman to proceed with the release of the election results.
“As ZEC chairman he had no authority to make any decision without presenting it to the Commissioners’ meeting, for this is contrary to Section 119 of the Zanzibar Constitution. Jecha also announced the nullification of the election results while knowing that he had no legal authority to do so,” he said.
ZEC Vice Chairman and the remaining commissioners should be allowed to continue releasing the election results of the nine constituencies which had already been verified and complete the verification of the remaining 14 and hence declare the winner, he said.
“This decision is right under Section 119 (10) of the Zanzibar Constitution and Section 42 (6) of the Election Act which requires the presidential results to be announced within three days,” he said.
It is high time President John Magufuli started leading the talks for the successful implementation of the proposed conditions, he suggested.
Hamad further said that Civic United Front and Chama Cha Mapinduzi top leadership also should immediately hold talks to finalise the procedures for the formation of a Government of National Unity under the presidential winner of the October 25 last year General Election.
A specific time should be allotted to solve all the challenges related to the Zanzibar electoral system so as to clear all the irregularities for strengthening the electoral system in future, he further suggested.
“We believe that the solution for Zanzibar’s political logjam must abide by the Constitution, laws and principles of good governance … our recommendations are the only solutions to the crisis. Any suggestion which will not consider these recommendations will not provide sustainable solutions, but will instead be a source of another crisis that may take time to be resolved,” he said.
Commenting on his participation in the talks as the only representative from CUF, he said: “I agreed to take part alone in the meeting which involved five retired presidents of Zanzibar believing that wisdom and respect of the country’s constitution could prevail.”
He said that he is confident that he can also make right decisions for the interest of the nation.
On the other hand, accusing his contender, the current President of Zanzibar, Dr Shein over dilly-dallying to convene a meeting that would receive the report on the talks, Hamad said, the motive behind the delay was to let ZEC announce the date of election rerun.
“We have reports that ZEC is scheduled to meet on January 14 to announce the date for election rerun, which is scheduled for February 28, this year,” he said.
Revealing, he said part of the report says that the aim of the Dr Shein’s move is to hold back the efforts by President Magufuli to see that the situation is resolved amicably.
If ZEC will proceed to announce the date for re-election, he said, he will convene a meeting of the party’s leadership council to make its stand on the matter.
On October 28, last year Zanzibar Electoral Commission (ZEC) nullified the election results citing what it described as a number of shortfalls in the conduct of the poll that had also contributed to delay in the compilation and announcement of the results.
According to ZEC chairman Jecha Salum Jecha, the ‘shortfalls’ included differences among ZEC members, with some having turned representatives of their respective parties.
He also cited a number of irregularities, especially in Pemba, with the number of votes cast at some polling stations exceeding that of voters registered for the election.
Since then, a long political logjam has prevailed with the opposition led by CUF declaring that it would not accept any election rerun.
On the other hand, the ruling CCM has been saying that it will go for reelection and in fact is preparing for it.
SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN
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