Zanzibar opposition leader alleges vote was rigged
Says thousands who tried to cast ballots were foiled
By Chris Tomlinson, Associated Press | November 1, 2005

ZANZIBAR, Tanzania -- Zanzibar's opposition leader yesterday condemned the
presidential and legislative elections his region conducted Sunday as
neither free nor fair, and riot police clashed with his supporters.

The balloting, following a campaign marked by violence and recrimination,
saw voters on the ''spice islands" choose between socialists who have ruled
for more than 30 years and an opposition promising privatization and
wholesale economic change.

Opposition leader and presidential candidate Seif Shariff Hamad said some
80,000 opposition supporters were denied their right to vote in Sunday's
balloting, Zanzibar's third election since the semiautonomous region
restored multiparty politics in 1992.

Electoral authorities announced early results that showed the ruling Chama
Cha Mapinduzi, or Revolutionary Party, taking 15 seats in the main island
and Hamad's party winning all 18 seats in the second island, an opposition
stronghold.

In several key opposition constituencies, police on Sunday trucked in
hundreds of voters, irking local residents, who said the strangers should
not have been allowed to vote. Poll results, required to be posted outside
the stations, were absent at those locations yesterday. Official results
announced on the radio awarded those seats to the ruling party.

Results from one of the races for the 50-seat House of Representatives were
nullified because of irregularities.

Opposition officials have said 10,000 votes were enough to swing an election
in this Indian Ocean archipelago with an estimated 1 million people, half of
them registered voters. Islamic radicals could find an opening in this
devoutly Muslim region if Sunday's vote is seen as flawed and proof that
democracy cannot work here.

Riot police used tear gas and water cannons to disperse Zanzibaris
celebrating what Hamad had called a clear early lead in the presidential and
legislative elections.

The demonstrations began shortly after early morning prayers. Police
arrested at least three men amid clashes with supporters of the opposition
Civic United Front. More than a dozen people were reported seriously injured
and two men were shot, opposition officials said.

Later, outside his party headquarters, Hamad persuaded thousands of young
men to go home and await his instructions concerning any demonstrations.

There were no reliable exit polls. Electoral authorities said full
legislative results were not expected until late last night. Presidential
results may not be announced until today.

Zanzibar is a semiautonomous region of Tanzania.