election observation report final zanzibar 2010

8/8/2019 Election Observation Report Final Zanzibar 2010

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REPORT

43/2010

2010 ELECTIONS IN ZANZIBAR

Consolidating peaceful multiparty politics

Report Series:ZANZIBAR POLITICS

Series editor:Kjetil Tronvoll


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ILPI

International Law and Policy Institute (ILPI) provides analytical work, juridical briefs,

and policy advice within international law, human rights, corporate social

responsibility, governance, and country/conflict analysis.

ILPI is established with the conviction that the combination of academic excellence

and operational policy experience facilitates hands-on solutions and the ability to

handle complex processes and issues.

ILPI is based in Oslo, Norway, but has an extensive network of partners worldwide.

www.ilpi.org

DISCLAIMER

This report is commissioned by the Royal Norwegian Embassy, Dar es Salaam. The views and

analysis expressed in the report are the responsibility of International Law and Policy Institute alone,

and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Norwegian Embassy.

Published 15.11.2010

Copyright: ILPI


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INTERNATIONAL LAW AND POLICY INSTITUTE - ILPI

Table of contents

1 Introduction _____________________________________________________________ 4

2 Zanzibar's Legal and Electoral System _______________________________________ 5

2.1 Who is Eligible to Vote in the Zanzibar Election? ______________________________ 5

3 Permanent Voter Registry (PVR) ____________________________________________ 6

3.1 The Zanzibar ID card (ZID) Issue __________________________________________ 7

4 ZEc Administration _______________________________________________________ 8

4.1 The Commissioners ____________________________________________________ 84.2 The Secretariat and Returning Officers _____________________________________ 9

4.3 Constituency and Polling Station Officers____________________________________ 9

5 Campaign _______________________________________________________________ 9

5.1 Campaign Funding and Resources _______________________________________ 10

5.2 Media ______________________________________________________________ 11

5.3 Police and Security____________________________________________________ 12

6 ZECs election preparations _______________________________________________ 12

6.1 Voter Register and Voter Cards __________________________________________ 12

6.2 Voter Education ______________________________________________________ 13

6.3 Equipment Preparations________________________________________________ 13

6.4 Party Agent and Poll Worker Training _____________________________________ 137 Election day ____________________________________________________________ 14

7.1 Room and Equipment__________________________________________________ 157.1.1 Equipment related Difficulties/Challenges _______________________________ 15

8 Counting _______________________________________________________________ 18

8.1 Counting at Polling Stations _____________________________________________ 18

8.2 Compiling at Constituency Level _________________________________________ 19

8.3 Compiling at Bwawani, Unguja___________________________________________ 22

9 Results ________________________________________________________________ 22

10 Reactions ______________________________________________________________ 24

11 Recommendations_______________________________________________________ 26

12 ILPI comment ___________________________________________________________ 27References ________________________________________________________________ 28

2010 ELECTIONS IN ZANZIBAR

Consolidatingpeacefulmultipartypolitics


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International Law and Policy Institute 2010 Elections in Zanzibar

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1 INTRODUCTION

International Law and Policy Institute (ILPI) has conducted long-term electoral observation inZanzibar since the inception of the electoral cycle. ILPI has been present with observers on

Pemba since the beginning of July 2009, and on Unguja since October 2009.

The Zanzibar Electoral Commission (ZEC) organised and carried out a commendable electionin Zanzibar. ILPI observed few irregularities, and the atmosphere was peaceful and orderlywithout any intimidation or threats by security forces or government actors. Considering thewidespread misconduct carried out during previous elections, this is a great step forward inconsolidating democracy in Zanzibar.

The process of tabulation of votes and transferring of results from district to central level,however, apparently lacked transparency in certain locations. This could be used by some tobring into question the legitimacy of the presidential results, in particular considering the verynarrow margin of victory of only 3,471 votes.

These aspects, along with the more detailed concerns below, cause ILPIs conclusion on theelections to be twofold. Firstly, we praise ZEC for an improved voter registration exercise anda well-organised election. Secondly, we recognise that greater transparency in the last phaseof tabulation and transferring of results from district level would have improved the overallintegrity of the elections.

ILPI has observed the entire electoral cycle: from three rounds of voter registration, thePermanent Voter Registry display and complaint process, CUF and CCMs internal elections,candidate selection, and registration process, and the election campaign period in full.Furthermore, parallel to the electoral process ILPI has also followed the political reconciliationprocess (maridhiano) that commenced when CUF Secretary General Maalim Seif recognizedPresident Karume in a State House meeting, 5 November 2009. The reconciliation processradically changed the political climate on the isles, as it pacified escalating violent protests.

The objective to establish a government of national unity (GNU) was reconfirmed, asenshrined in the Butiama/Bagamoyo agreement of 2008 (known as Muafaka III). In the firstHouse of Representatives session of 2010, CUF tabled a private motion suggestingconstitutional changes to facilitate political reconciliation and a unity government, based onthe will of the people expressed through referendum. The CCM government carried thisforward, and in April 2010 the House of Representatives amended the constitution, followedby President Karumes signing of the Zanzibars referendum act 30 April. On 31 July, Zanzibarcarried out a referendum where 66.4 percent of voters voted yes to the formation of agovernment of national unity directly following the general elections held on 31 October. Thetenth constitutional amendment thus requires the formation of a Zanzibari government ofnational unity following the election where the president is elected by direct vote, the first vice-president is nominated by the runner-up party, and the second vice-president (who isresponsible for government affairs in the House of Representatives) comes from the winning

party. Ministerial portfolios will be divided proportionally based on the number of House ofRepresentatives seats won by each party.

The reconciliation spirit has directly impinged on the electoral process. ILPI has observed asignificant change in the immediate aftermath of the maridhiano handshake of 5 November2009 in how people on both Unguja and Pemba participate in politics, and how the people andtheir government interact. As inhabitants in the symbolic Piki village on Pemba whichwitnessed widespread violence in the 2000 and 2005 elections explained to ILPI somemonths prior to the election: If this had been like in 2005, we would have been detained now.Many from our villages would have escaped the islands. But now we are still here, living inpeace and harmony.


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2 ZANZIBARS LEGAL AND ELECTORAL SYSTEM

Zanzibars election of the President, members of the House of Representatives, and localcouncils are governed by a combination of the amended 1984 Constitution of Zanzibar, theamended Election Act No. 11 of 1984

1, as well as ZEC regulations.

The Zanzibar president is elected through direct popular vote. In the House ofRepresentatives (HoR), with a total of 81 members, 50 seats are directly elected through thefirst-past-the-post single-member constituency system for a five-year term. Presidentialappointees fill another 11 seats; including two seats from the opposition and one seat for theZanzibar Attorney General. Special seats for women equals 40 percent of the House and aredistributed proportionally among parties that obtain more than 10 per cent of the directlyelected seats. The results of the 2010 elections give 11 womens special seats to CCM and 9to CUF.

In addition to voting for the Zanzibar president, and candidates for the House ofRepresentative and local councils, Zanzibaris also vote for the president of the Union as wellas members of the Union National Assembly. These elections were governed by the NationalElection Commission (NEC) and will not be addressed in this report.

2.1 WHO IS ELIGIBLE TO VOTE IN THE ZANZIBAR ELECTION?

An underlying issue of contention in the political process in Zanzibar is the crucial questions ofwho belongto the isles, and thus who is eligible to participate in politics and elections?

Much of the political focus has thus concentrated on drawing a line between Zanzibaris andmainlanders (wabara), whereof the Zanzibaris have rights both as citizens of the TanzanianUnion and as islanders. Special prerogatives are thus given to Zanzibaris and notmainlanders within the Zanzibar political realm.

According to the Election Act no 11 of 1984, section 11: Every Zanzibari who has attained theage of eighteen years shall, unless he is disqualified by this or any other Act, be entitled to beregistered under and accordance with the provisions of this Act as a voter.

The status and definition of a Zanzibari, however, is somewhat ambiguous. The termcitizenship is not applied to a Zanzibari (as in Zanzibari citizenship), since citizenship is thedomain of the Union. Nevertheless, the Zanzibari status is a de facto quasi-citizenship sincecertain rights and privileges are given exclusively to a Zanzibari and not to a Tanzanian (i.e.mainlander). It is the Zanzibar constitution and noteworthy notthe Union constitution thatcreates the status of a Zanzibari [see Constitution Section 6.1].

The constitution provides that the attainment, loss, and re-instatement of Zanzibari statusshall be in accordance with law enacted by the House of Representatives [Section 6.2].

The definition of a Zanzibari has been a long contested issue. According to the Registrationof Zanzibaris Resident Act, 2005 section 2: Zanzibari means a citizen of Tanzania resident inZanzibar as defined in the Zanzibari Act, No.5 of 1985. The latter defines a Zanzibari as:

Any citizen of Tanzania who resided in Zanzibar before and up to 12 January 1964(the date of the Zanzibar revolution);

Any citizen of Tanzania who was born in Zanzibar before 26 April 1964 (the date ofthe establishment of the Tanzanian Union) by at least one Zanzibari parent;

Any person who held Zanzibari citizenship before 26 April 1964 and has not since losthis or her Tanzanian citizenship;

Any citizen of Tanzania with at least one parent with Zanzibari status in accordancewith the three points above.

1Incorporates all amendments made up to 2004, published in 2010 by the Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar.


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Additionally, any person who is a Tanzanian may achieve Zanzibari status by naturalization, ifthat person:

has been residing in Zanzibar for a consecutive period of ten years (previously fifteenyears);

has sufficient knowledge of Kiswahili;

is of good character; has lawfully entered and respected all prevailing laws of Zanzibar; is of full age; and intends to continue residing in Zanzibar.

Zanzibari status is imperative in order to be eligible to register to vote in the Zanzibarelections. The Zanzibar Constitution [Section 7] grants the right to vote in any election held inZanzibar to any Zanzibari over the age of eighteen, unless disqualified on grounds of criminalconviction, non-discharged bankruptcy, or being legally of unsound mind. Further, the ElectionAct no 11 of 1984 section 12.(3)(i) specifies that any person who is ordinarily a resident of aconcerned constituency shall be registered as a voter of that constituency. According tosection 12.(3)(ii): For the purposes of this section, a person shall be deemed to be anordinary resident in a concerned constituency if:

a) he has a permanent residence and has been living in that constituency consecutively for aperiod of 3 months from coming into force of this Act up to the election day; orb) he resides in that constituency for employment reasons; orc) she is a married woman or a married man and resides in that constituency as long as thehusband to that woman or wife to that man as the case may be is an ordinary resident; ord) is another person which is a dependant of one or all the persons mentioned in paragraphs(b) and (c); ore) is a student residing in a boarding school recognized by the government within thatconstituency.

The status as a Zanzibari reflects the historical position of Zanzibar as an independent state,without defining the citizenship content of this historical polity.

A new legal requirement to be allowed to register to vote in Zanzibar Elections was introducedafter the 2005 elections. According to section 12. (1) of the Election Act no 11 of 1984: Noperson shall be registered as a voter unless he: (b): produces his identity card issued underAct, No. 7 of 2005. The pertaining law is the Registration of Zanzibaris Resident Act, 2005that details the establishment of the Zanzibar ID card (ZID, also known as ZAN ID). This lawwas passed 12 May 2005. The requirement of having a ZID in order to register has been afocal point of contention throughout the 2009 and 2010 registration.

3 PERMANENT VOTER REGISTRY (PVR)

The establishment of a permanent voters register is specified in the Election Act section

13.(1): There shall be a Permanent Voters Register for the elections of the President,Members of the House of Representatives and Councilors. The Zanzibar Permanent VotersRegister (PVR) includes information of all eligible voters in accordance with the provisions ofthe Election Act. According to section 13. (5) every entry into the permanent voters registershall contain:

full name of the voter;date of birth;place of residence;registration number;sex of voter;electoral area.Zanzibar Electoral Commission (ZEC) registered voters in the Permanent Voter Register(PVR) in three rounds. On Pemba the first round of registration started 5 July 2009 and ended


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10 January 2010. On Unguja the first round of registration started 12 September and ended14 February 2010, while the second round of registration commenced on 2 March for bothislands, and ended 2 May for Pemba, and 5 May on Unguja. The third round was held forZanzibaris who were struggling to get their Zanzibar ID, but had voted in the 2005 elections. Aspecial census of these voters was conducted for one week from 22-28 February 2010,netting 3,043 voters. These people were then supposed to try and get their ZID in time for a

special third round of registration held on 8-9 May 2010 for these 3,043 people only.

The registration of voters has been criticized in every election since the introduction of multi-party-politics in 1992. In the Muafaka II Accord of 2001, both parties recognized the faults ofpast voters registration exercises on the isles: It has been noted that the system ofregistering voters at every time of elections has not been satisfactory and is also outdated.The exercise is costly and the system is prone to fraud and dishonesty with the possibility ofregistering unqualified voters (Article B (i) ofAppendix I of the Muafaka II Accord.) Based onthe negative experiences of ad hoc voter registration, it was decided to establish a PermanentVoters Register (PVR), as part of the Muafaka II agreement, in order to accommodate a fairelection in 2005. However, the 2005 PVR process was severely criticized, as the PVRallegedly included a number of ghost voters and double registrations.

The 2009 registration process was thus conducted to make a new and improved PVR,meeting the criticism from 2005. As in the past, the 2009/10-voter registration process startedout with controversies. On Pemba the first weeks of registration was hampered by protest andviolence by sympathizers of the CUF, who claimed that the new legal requirement of having aZanzibar ID in order to register was unconstitutional. Many CUF members did not have aZanzibar ID card, and when they turned up to register for the elections they were rejected.CUF thus encouraged their sympathizers who had Zanzibar ID cards not to go to register insolidarity with those lacking ID cards. The frustrations over being denied to register lead to anescalation of protests and violence, as CUF sympathizers also tried to stop CCM membersfrom registering. As a result of the unrest, ZEC decided to suspend the registration process onPemba from 5 August 11 September, in order for Zanzibar ID authorities to issue Zan IDs tomitigate the reason for protest. The voter registration re-commenced 12 September on Pembaand also started simultaneously on Unguja. CUF however maintained a non-participation in

the registration, as they claimed that the Zan ID issue had not be efficiently handled by theauthorities. Mainly due to the reconciliation talks, which became public 5 November, andattempts to resolve the ZID issue, CUF supporters returned to register in the second and thirdrounds of registration, which were completed in May 2010.

As mentioned in section 2, the requirement of having a Zanzibar ID (ZID) in order to registerhas been a focal point of contention throughout the 2009/10 registration process. This newlegal requirement to be registered in the Zanzibar voter registry was introduced after the 2005election, and according to section 12. (1) of the Election Act no 11 of 1984: No person shallbe registered as a voter unless he: (b): produces his identity card issued under Act, No. 7 of2005.

The law Registration of Zanzibaris Resident Act, 2005 details the establishment of the

Zanzibar ID card (ZID). It was passed 12 May 2005. According to CUF, in 2005 thegovernment promised the ZID would not be used in any aspect of the election process, andthey claimed they were very surprised when the ZID was a requirement for registering as avoter in 2009/10. CUF claimed they were informed about this requirement only two weeksprior to the start of the voter registration on Pemba. Whereas the Zanzibar ElectoralCommission said information about the ZID requirement was shared on several occasionsbefore, and the fact that ZID had been used in the by-election in Magogoni, Unguja in May2009 should have made CUF aware that it would be used for the 2010 elections as well. Thepolitical party CHADEMA filed a court case in September 2009 where they claimed the ZIDrequirement is unconstitutional. This case is still pending in the Zanzibar High Court.

CUF has complained that the ZID process has been complicated, costly, and biased, leavingmany CUF supporters without a ZID. ILPI has received consistent information from a number

of people who complained that the sheha had denied them application forms for Zan ID, orthey were unable to pay for a birth certificate required to obtain a Zan ID.


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On 5 November 2009 CUF secretary general Maalim Seif recognized the legitimate rule ofpresident Karume, and their State House meeting officially launched the reconciliationprocess (dubbed maridhiano in Kiswahili). In the new peaceful and reconciliatory politicalatmosphere, CUF members decided to register when the second round of registration started2 March 2010. President Karume also promised that every eligible voter would be registered,

and as a response, CUF gave the president lists of 15,591 sympathizers, whom they claimedhad been denied to register because of the lack of ZID. Some of these lists were then given tothe ZID authority who claimed that most of the people on the list were lacking a birthcertificate, and were thus unqualified to register for a ZID. 26 March 2010 Maalim Seif told theNipashe newspaper: 20,000 Zanzibaris still dont have their ZID. Other CUF officials offereda much higher number in conversations with ILPI.

Other complaints from the registration process were people being rejected by the sheha at theregistration station, despite having a ZID, because the sheha claimed that they did not belongto the area. There were also cases of over-registration during both rounds of the registrationprocess. These cases included registration of under-aged voters, the registration of peoplefrom different areas on Zanzibar, and SMZ special department troops being irregularlytransferred from one constituency to another.

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A UNDP consultant was brought in to verify the PVR system prior to the election. Thisconsultant checked the computer system and software. After his examination he concludedthat it was more or less impossible to tamper with the system. This was a positive step toensure ZEC got what they paid for, although the consultant did not verify that the systemwas used properly, nor did he verify the PVR itself.

NEC were using ZECs voter registry on Zanzibar. In order to also register Tanzanians livingin Zanzibar, who were unable to register with ZEC because they are not Zanzibaris, NECorganized a voter registration exercise in June 2010. In this NEC registration, all Zanzibariswho were unable to register with ZEC because they did not have a Zanzibar ID card, werealso given a chance to register, and CUF mobilized their members to go and register for theunion election.

4 ZEC ADMINISTRATION

ZECs mandate is provided for by the chapter 9 (119.1) of the Zanzibar constitution incombination with section 3 - 7 of the 1984 Election Act. The make up of the commission andthe secretariat has been the source of many complaints by the opposition since thereintroduction of multiparty system in 1992. The commission was reformed in 2002 as a resultof the partially implemented second Muafaka agreement. A reform of the Secretariat, asstipulated in the Muafaka agreement, has not taken place however, and the opposition hascontinued to complain about the alleged bias of ZEC personnel and hiring practices at theNational, District, Constituency and polling station levels.

4.1 THE COMMISSIONERS

The ZEC commission is composed of a Chairman appointed by the President, twocommissioners recommended from the party with the majority in the House ofRepresentatives, two commissioners recommended from the opposition, one member fromthe High Court, and one member as the President sees fit.

3The commissioners are selected

for a five-year term. The Commissions mandate includes the overall supervision of theconduct of elections as well as the legal powers to introduce by-laws and issue regulations.The commission works closely with the Director of the Elections to oversee the entire electoralprocess, but relies on the Director as the Chief Executive Officer of the Secretariat to hire the

2For an in depth observation and analysis report on the ZEC voter registration, please refer to ILPI Report 31/2010:

The Progress of Voter Registration in Zanzibar. Observations and Assessments.3

The Constitution of Zanzibar, 2006 Revised Edition Chapter 9, Section 119(1)


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Returning Officers and other long term ZEC staff as well as update them on the work of thesecretariat. This makes sense from a logistical standpoint, but limits the influence of the lesspartisan Commission on the conduct of ZEC and its officers.

4.2 THE SECRETARIAT AND RETURNING OFFICERS

The secretariat is responsible for the hiring and oversight of all of the District ReturningOfficers, Assistant Returning Officers, Education, Information, IT and other officers whocomprise the secretariat of ZEC. The ZEC Secretariat shall perform all duties assigned by theCommission as set out under the Election Act. According to the Election Act, Article 10,section (1), The Commission is also responsible to appoint for every election in everyconstituency a Returning Officer and such number of Assistant Returning Officers as theCommission may think necessary for the purpose of conducting election in the constituency.These officers control the day-to-day operations of ZEC and also the hiring of constituencylevel staff and polling level staff.

4.3 CONSTITUENCY AND POLLING STATION OFFICERS

ZECs hiring of the polling level staff was conducted by the Secretariat without the input of theCommission. For the presiding officers and other poll workers, the Returning and AssistantReturning officers worked with the constituency level officers to hire these officers. ILPIreceived many complaints about this hiring process both on Unguja and Pemba. A significantnumber of people who were better qualified in terms of more education or experience,including those who had worked during the July 31 referendum, were not rehired for theelections, allegedly due to political bias in the recruitment process.

According to section 63 in the Election Act no. 11 of 1984, the Returning Officer shall appointPolling Assistants, to be in charge of the polling station (to be known as the Presiding Officer).

According to Section 10 (3): the Returning Officer may, subject to the directions of theDirector of Elections, appoint such staff as may be necessary for the purpose of conductingelection in the constituency. The constituency supervisor was a new position in this election,which helped to train polling workers, as well as oversee and coordinate the polling stations ineach constituency.

ILPI received complaints from CUF in Micheweni, Pemba, that only a few people from theZEC polling staff applicant list had been considered, and instead ZEC had specificallychoosen staff. According to CUF, these had a lower education level than required. Similarclaims was made in Wete, Pemba, where the original list of people being accepted andpublished after interviews was modified and polling staff said to be CUF supporters had beenremoved. These complaints leave room for a more open and transparent recruitment process.

Although ILPI cannot provide systematic evidence that this happened, we did interview peoplewho originally had been accepted for positions, but who were later removed. When observingthe polling staff training some days prior to the election, we did also see that many staff camefrom well-known CCM families, or people close to the people in charge of recruitment.

5 CAMPAIGN

The campaign season in Zanzibar started on 10 September, a month after the start of thecampaign season on the mainland, and just as the Holy month of Ramadan ended. The post-referendum reconciliation spirit was maintained throughout the campaign period. Thereconciliation spirit was also supported by The Code of Ethics for Political Parties, which wassigned by all 18 registered political parties in Zanzibar prior to the start of the campaign. This

was a welcome change from past election campaigns which were characterized byintimidation and violence, mainly between the two major parties CCM and CUF. During the


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campaigns CCM, CUF, and the smaller parties in Zanzibar were able to maintain a respectiveand peaceful campaign, despite the fact that both CCM and CUF were victims of isolated rockthrowing incidents on Unguja during the first weeks of the campaign. CCM and CUF showedmaturity and reconciliation spirit, as both parties downplayed these incidents. As thecampaign approached its end both parties continued to focus predominately on policies andtheir partys ambitions for change in Zanzibar, rather than attacking their competitors. This

helped to ensure peace and stability on Election Day.

Dr Shein giving a strong CCM oyee in Chwaka, Unguja

CUF presidential candidate Maalim Seif greeting people in his last presidential rally on Pemba

5.1 CAMPAIGN FUNDING AND RESOURCES

During the first session of the Union Parliament in 2010, The Election Expenses Act (2010)was passed. The goal of this legislation is to be An Act to make provisions for the funding ofnomination process, election campaigns and elections with a view to controlling the use offunds and prohibited practices in the nomination process, election campaigns and elections;to make provisions for allocation, management and accountability of funds, and to provide forconsequential and related matters.

4This new legislation was passed by the Union parliament

and thus only applied to Union election campaigns, so that in Zanzibar the only ones subjectto the new law were the MP and Union Presidential Campaigns. On the mainland theenforcement mechanism was the Prevention and Combating Corruption Bureau (PCCB), butin Zanzibar the PCCB had no authority or mandate, so enforcement of the new law was left up

the Register of Political Parties and the Police, making it difficult to enforce the new act.

4Election Expenses Act, 2010, 3.


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The Zanzibar races for President, House of Representatives, and Councilor were not subjectto the new legislation, nor did there exist an anti-corruption bureau with a mandate inZanzibar. The de facto enforcement would then fall under the mandate of the police whocurrently do not have the resources or tools to properly address these issues.

Throughout the campaign, the ruling party CCM used state resources, and money inparticular, to tilt the playing field to their advantage. This has been a common theme inZanzibar and on the Mainland as the line between the state and the ruling party remains veryblurred, 18 years after the reintroduction of multiparty politics. For instance, ILPI observed theCCM Presidential Candidate using the Vice Presidential plane on campaign trips betweenUnguja/Dar and Pemba. Additionally, government vehicles were habitually used to transportCCM supporters to and from campaign rallies. Government employees were also encouragedto attend CCM rallies. For instance, on one occasion when ILPI was visiting the ZanzibarSpecial Department Troops Ministry office, the troops were receiving CCM campaignschedules and were urged to attend the CCM rallies.

The amount of money used by the parties, the way in which supporters were brought tocampaign rallies, and how cadres received party paraphernalia could not have been more

different. On the CCM side daladala and lorries were hired and drivers often paid significantsums of money by the party to drive supporters to rallies. They also received free petrolprovided by the party. Agents provided with lists would be present at the petrol stations alongthe route and near the rallies and long lines of cars, daladalas, vespas, and lorries wereobserved waiting to receive free petrol. This commonly known service of free fuel and moneyprompted CUF to modify one of their slogans saying, Who are those who dont want equalrights? with the crowd responding Those in the free cars. CCM supporters were also givenfree kangas, hats, t-shirts and other party paraphernalia at CCM offices prior to rallies.

CUF relies mainly on support by the government (which is based on the percentage of electedposts) as well as private donations. Financial strains during the six-week long campaignperiod is a serious challenge to the smaller parties in Zanzibar. Even CUF could not afford toprovide financial support to supporters to enable them to attend rallies or give out

paraphernalia, as their CCM counterparts. While some of the more well off CUF supportershire cars to carry people to rallies, the cadres themselves funded many of the cars, daladalas,vespas, and lorries. ILPI often saw CUF supporters asking for contributions at branches tosupport transport to and from rallies. Additionally, at the CUF rallies there persisted abusiness atmosphere with people selling party kangas, hats, t-shirts, CDs and other things, assupporters normally had to buy everything themselves.

The other smaller parties that compete for seats in Zanzibar have no government funding andmust rely on private support only. This severely hampers their ability to compete on allelectoral levels in Zanzibar.

5.2 MEDIA

The media in Zanzibar in past elections has played a negative and biased role in the electoralprocess as much of the media is state controlled. It is also a problem that many of theindependent journalists in Zanzibar are often internally censored by their mainland editors.During the 2010 election campaign the media more often than not played a positive role in thecampaign, generally upholding the Media Code of Conduct for Election Reporting. However,public media in particular increased their bias towards the ruling party CCM as the campaignprogressed. Nevertheless, government papers such as Zanzibar Leo attempted to provide asemblance of balance in their coverage, also giving CUF and other opposition parties someattention. Broadcasting media, both public and private, showed a clear preference and biastoward CCM in Zanzibar, although CUF as opposed to other opposition parties receivedsignificant airtime.

Many of the mainland based media outlets covered the Zanzibari process, but focused onlyon the CCM and CUF, rarely giving any press to other opposition parties. The main freedom


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of expression concern during the election campaign was the threat by the Union governmentsDirector of the Tanzania Information Services (Maelezo) to close and deregister the leadingKiswahili newspaperMwananchifor, inciting and humiliating coverage against the incumbentgovernment.

5This direct threat might also have influenced other news outlets to become

more careful and impose a self-censorship on their campaign reporting.

5.3 POLICE AND SECURITY

From the outset of the campaign period the communication and cooperation between thepolice and the two major political parties was commendable. ILPI observed from the beginningof the campaign through the final day that police kept a low profile at campaign rallies, andthose who were assigned to the rallies were unarmed. As Election Day neared, more FieldForce Units (FFU) were observed, but they never appeared to be intimidating or interfering inthe process. The major improvement that the police could have made during the campaignperiod was equal application of the ending time of 6pm. ILPI observed that at CUF rallies thepolice were quite strict, while CCM was occasionally allowed to go past 6pm, with the mostnotable exception being when President Kikwete spoke at a rally on Pemba until nearly6:30pm.

As opposed to previous elections, SMZ Special Department Troops were not employed assecurity forces during this electoral process.

6This is a significant improvement from earlier

elections, where their intimidating presence worked in favor of the incumbent.

6 ZECS ELECTION PREPARATIONS

From the start of the voter registration process ZEC sought to improve and update theirpreparations and protocols from the Commissioner level down to the poll worker level. Themajority of the focus has been on the PVR, voter education, polling equipment, and partyagent/poll worker training. Close collaboration and often prodding from UNDP helped toensure that many of these tasks were completed. ZEC has improved many of their

procedures, but there is still significant room for improvement in several areas.

6.1 VOTER REGISTER AND VOTER CARDS

In past elections the early display of the voter register (at least seven days prior to ElectionDay) has not been implemented in accordance with the Election Act. In the past, the voterregistry was made available only a day or two before the polling, making it difficult for theparties to verify and use the registry on Election Day. In an act of transparency andreconciliation, This time around, ZEC made the PVR available to political parties on 6October, giving all parties a chance to examine the registry for possible faults, and to preparecopies for polling agents on Election Day. ZEC also posted the voter registry for each pollingstation outside of the station 7 days prior to the elections so as to speed up the voting

process. Additionally, voters could check their polling station and room number via SMS, anew innovation put in place for this election.

A serious transparency and fraud concern was ZECs control of the 10,180 voter cards thatwere not picked up at the District offices by 14 September. These cards were returned to ZECHeadquarters, and were supposed to be tightly controlled. ILPI tried several times to ascertainthe number of voter cards still being held at the ZEC office after their return to the office.Various ZEC officials both in the secretariat and commission told ILPI that they didnt know,and could not even provide an estimate of the number of cards that had yet to be picked up.This was after ZEC gave assurances to UNDP and the Election Support Program that boththe ZEC commission and secretariat would keep tight control of these voter cards. Voters

6SMZ Special Department Troops were used during the turbulent first round of registration process on Pemba. After

the official maridhiano handshake between President Karume and Maalim Seif, the situation calmed down making thepresence of SMZ troops redundant.


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continued to pick up their voter cards until 30 October, and ILPI was told on 29 October by aZEC official that only around 1,500 cards are still here at ZEC. This figure seems very lowconsidering the very bureaucratic process voters have to undergo to pick up their cards oncereturned to ZEC headquarters. In order to pick up his card, a voter would first be requested tofill out a form at the district office, which was then sent to ZEC headquarters. The card wasthen returned to the district office. Finally, the voter had to come back to the district office at a

later date to pick up their card. On average ZEC told ILPI that this process in Pemba tookbetween one and two weeks. While it was quicker on Unguja, it still took at least a few daysand two trips by the individual voter to the district offices. There were also allegations andrumors about the distribution of these voter cards by sheha and CCM offices. ILPI was shownby CUFs election officials, stacks of voter cards allegedly taken from a sheha who wasdistributing cards in the Kwamtipura constituency on Unguja.

6.2 VOTER EDUCATION

The voter education activities in relation to voter registration, referendum and election were allcharacterized by large delays in funding and delivery of programs. ZEC working with UNDPcommunicated with local CSOs in the development of voter education materials and hired

CSOs to conduct the voter education on the behalf of ZEC. While the preparation of materialsand the inputs from CSOs were quite useful, many of the materials were wasted due to delaysin funding and production of the materials. Huge numbers of posters and pamphlets were notdistributed during each stage of the electoral process. Their reach into rural areas was alsocurtailed because of delays. Delays in funding to CSOs tasked with providing voter educationworkshops and seminars caused a month long suspension of voter education on Unguja,while only two organizations were delivering voter education on Pemba. Good voter educationprograms included the open seminars observed on Pemba, where people were allowed tocome and ask election related questions. On Unguja the local theatre troop provided anentertaining and educational show for potential voters.

6.3 EQUIPMENT PREPARATIONS

ZECs equipment and logistics preparations for the general elections were exemplary. ZECworked mainly on their own, but they also received help from UNDP on the more technicalpreparations such as the computerized results management system, which was fully preparedwhen Election Day arrived. This was in stark contrast to their NEC counterparts who had tocancel the MP elections in three constituencies in Unguja due to lack of ballot papers and alsosuffered from a lack of ballots for the Union Presidency.

ILPI observed that each ZEC District Office had prepared their polling station materialsseveral weeks before the Election Day, with the exception of ballots. ZEC ballots for the threeraces arrived within one week of Election Day. Prior to Election Day ZEC discovered that forfour Councilor elections the ballot papers were flawed, thus a rescheduling of these electionsto 29 November were announced the day before Election Day. One more Councilor race on

Pemba was delayed on Election Day.

ZEC working with the UNDP also tested their technical equipment and capacity for the districtresults transmission centers prior to the elections. Despite these tests there were concernsthat ZEC would not be able to trouble shoot or correctly set up the systems in more ruraldistricts. This concern appeared to be unwarranted, but ILPI and observers were not allowedto view the transmission of results.

6.4 PARTY AGENT AND POLL WORKER TRAINING

ILPI attended both party agents and poll workers training sessions. ZEC conducted a two dayseminar to train party agents, where they instructed them on their role in the electoral process

and answered their questions on the process. This training appeared adequate for the party


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agents, as many of them had performed this work during past elections and were thoroughlytrained by their parties.

Poll workers received training for two full days. While these seminars were well conductedand taught by ZEC constituency officers, ILPI observed that many of the poll workers did notfully comprehend the instructions to ensure an entirely smooth process, especially in regards

to the counting procedures. It should be noted that the poll workers trained by ZEC appearedmuch better trained than their NEC counterparts.

7 ELECTION DAY

There were 131 polling centres on Pemba, and 225 on Unguja. Each polling centre wasfurther divided into several polling stations, giving a total of 1,291 polling stations. Openinghours were from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. On Unguja several stations opened late because of heavyrain. In these cases the stations would be held open for additional time to make up for the latestart. For instance, at the Shangani polling station, which opened at 7:20am allowed voters toarrive until 4:20pm. ZEC and NEC would process all voters still in line at 4, but no one couldarrive and join the queue after 4. NEC and ZEC were in the same polling stations; there were

3 ballots for ZEC: President; House of Representatives; and Councillor, and threecorresponding ballot boxes. The ballots were colour coordinated, in pink, black, and very lightblue ballots corresponding to white, black, and blue boxes. There were two ballots for NEC:Union President and Member of Parliament, these were also colour coordinated with thecorresponding ballot boxes.

People waiting in line outside Mzuka polling station in Konde, Pemba

In general ZEC conducted a commendable polling exercise. Both CCM and CUF officialsexpressed general satisfaction with the conduct of the ZEC election. The average voting timeobserved on both Unguja and Pemba was around 5 minutes for the ZEC elections. While theNEC elections took significantly longer in some areas primarily because insufficient trainedstaff, ballot problems, and only one ballot-marking booth.

The elections of three Diwani positions on Pemba were postponed due to missing ballots andmixed names and pictures of a CCM and a TLP candidate. The wards are Msingini (ChakeChake constituency), Wara (Ziwani constituency) and Ngambwa (Wawi constituency). FiveDiwani elections were also postponed on Unguja: Magapwani (Bumbwini constituency),Kajengwa (Makunduchi), Kwahani (Kwahani constituency), Nyerere (Magogoni) andMchangani (Stone Town). The ZEC diwani by-election will be held 28 November.

Due to complaints during previous elections, following significant changes of protocol wereundertaken to ensure an improved polling environment for the 2010 elections:


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1) The local ward leaders (sheha), were not involved in an formal capacity on ElectionDay. This was a welcomed step for the opposition parties, as the role of the sheha inearlier elections have been heavily criticised.

7

2) The Election Act, section 66. (c) (d) specifies: Every ballot paper shall: (c) have aserial number printed thereon; (d) be attached to a counterfoil bearing the same serialnumber that is printed on the ballot papers. In 2005 this number was specific to each

ballot paper, in 2010 each pad of 50 ballots would have the same number, thusmaking it impossible to trace the votes.

3) No SMZ Special Department Troops were employed as security forces duringElection Day. There were only one or two unarmed police per polling station, andarmed backup waited at police stations rather in the vicinity of the polling stations. OnPemba ILPI only observed one Field Force Unit car, with policemen in combatuniforms/equipment patrolling in the north.

7.1 ROOM AND EQUIPMENT

At most polling stations the layout of the room was acceptable and did not obstruct the flow,and the required equipment was in place and working. Some of the venues were too small,

making the room crowded and unorganised when all ZEC staff and party agents and voterswere present. In some station ILPI observed party agents seated around ballot boxes, therewas no clear path for voters to follow in the stations, and lines compromised the secrecy ofthe ballots. The heavy rain on Unguja during the morning hampered the opening of somepolling stations as ZEC staff had moved the stations from under tarps outside to insideschools.

From a polling station in Mkanyageni, Pemba south

7.1.1 Equipment related difficulties/challenges

Inkbottles

ILPI visited Junguni (Gando, Pemba) polling centre upon opening. ILPI was kindly requestedby the Presiding officer to assist the ZEC staff with the inkbottles, since they were havingdifficulties opening these. This was a problem at several of the polling stations at this centre,but not observed elsewhere on Pemba or Unguja.

Booths

A common problem ILPI observed across both Unguja and Pemba was the location of thevoting booths. Often the booths were either facing the ZEC staff or were arranged in a waythat did not protect the secrecy of the ballot being marked. Late in the day in Pemba north,

7See for instance: National Democratic Institute (NDI) Election observation report from the Zanzibar general election

in 2005


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ILPI saw several booths falling apart. We observed one man whose ballot and pen fell throughthe desk. We also saw several booths leaned up against walls and windows, since theywere too damaged or just too weak to stand on their own. In both Urban Unguja and PembaSouth ILPI observed and heard complaints that the lighting in the booth was too poor, andvoters were struggling to see the ballots. Some stations in Pemba and Unguja provided thevoters with lanterns in the booth, but most did not.

Poorly labelled ballot boxes

The vague colour coordination for the ballots and their respective ballot boxes turned out to beinsufficient instructions for most voters, and more often than not, people did not know in whichof the three ballot boxes they should to cast their votes. This held up the line at many stations.The party agents kept shouting instructions to people regarding the boxes, but in Stone Townthis type of assistance by a CUF party agent led him to being expelled from the polling stationby the constituency supervisor. Many of the boxes on Pemba were eventually labelled moreclearly, either on the side (not so efficient) or the top (more efficient) so people knew where tocast their votes. In Unguja at some stations in the North and Urban/West regions, and atsome stations in Pemba South, one person was designated to stand next to the ballot boxesinstructing people in which box their votes should be cast. According to Zanzibar Legal

Services Centre, ZEC disqualified 51 presidential votes in Micheweni, since they were in thewrong ballot box. This was not observed by ILPI. We saw the Presiding officer and pollingagents, in cooperation with the party agents, open the ballot boxes at the beginning of thecounting process to correct the misplaced ballots.

Ballots

The Election Act section 68. (3)(c)(i) specifically states that: Immediately before the PresidingOfficer or polling assistant delivers a ballot paper to any person:- the ballot paper shall beperforated or stamped with an official mark; ILPI on Unguja generally observed ZEC pollingofficers following the law in this regard. On Pemba it was more common that the ZEC staffhad already folded the ballots and stamped them when the voter came to collect the ballotpapers. At several polling stations on Pemba, ILPI observed ZEC staff who pre-folded ballots,

stamped them and subsequently put them in piles. There were two or three piles of the threeballots each, and the voter was merely given one of these piles. One man, a former ZECpolling officer, told ILPI he grabbed two piles, to check if the ZEC polling officer would notice.According to him, she did and screamed up, but he thought this pre-folding routine would beeasy to misuse and give certain people more than one ballot or to spoil ballots. This couldalso reduce the control of the party agents over how many votes were given as they often satat a distance from the table were the ballot papers were handed out. This could also allowpolling workers to pre-tick ballots; something that one polling officer in the Stone Townconstituency was caught doing on Election Day, according to what the Stone Townconstituency supervisor told ILPI shortly after the incident.

Party Agents

All parties were allowed to have two party agents per polling station: one for the ZanzibarPresidency and one for the House and Councillor elections. On Election Day most partyagents had a copy of the PVR, and at most polling stations the name of the voter wasannounced out loud so the party agents could tick these off. If a party agent contested thename or the person, he or she was not allowed to see this persons voter card. Some pollingofficers also announced the corresponding page or voter ID number to find the person morerapidly. ILPI also observed party agents doing the same for the ZEC staff if they found thevoter first. Two of the polling centres in Pemba north were overcrowded. In these the pollingofficer did not announce the name of the voters, and the party agents did not tick off voters intheir PVR. On Unguja, ILPI observed some party agents sharing copies of the PVR, workingtogether to identify voters.

PVR


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The PVR was found both outside and inside the polling stations: posted outside so voterscould see which polling station one should queue for and when the voter entered the pollingstation, he or she was looked up in the PVR by the polling officer. At Fidel Castro station inWawi, Pemba, CUF complained the PVR displayed outside did not match the one inside.According to CUF the outside PVR had 376 names, and the inside PVR 341.

Secrecy of the vote

The placement of the voter booths in many stations on both Unguja and Pemba brought intoquestion the secrecy of the ballot. According to the Election Act, section 68. (3) (d) a voteron receiving a ballot paper shall go immediately into one of the screened compartments in thepolling station, secretly record his vote (). At some of the smaller stations, or the moreover-crowded polling stations, the secrecy of the vote could be compromised. At over-crowded polling centres in Pemba North and Urban Unguja each voter casting his or her votehad a group of 6-7 people surrounding the booth, waiting their turn. On Unguja and SouthPemba some stations had lines right outside of the room where people could look down intothe classroom and possibly observe the voter marking the ballot.

Assistance

In Tumbe, Pemba, there were several complaints that people who needed assistance whenvoting were blocked, since ZEC did not have enough forms to register the assistants. Thiswas later resolved, and ZEC officers were told to make new forms on blank paper, notingdown the names of the assistant and the assisted.

According to the ZLSC, at one of the stations in the Tumbatu constituency, Unguja, thePresiding Officer said it was his responsibility to help those who needed assistance, and didnot allow trusted family assistants to help, as detailed in the law. The Election Act, section 68.(h) states: if a voter is incapacitated by blindness or other physical cause, or is unable toread, he may call the Presiding Officer or a companion aside, and shall tell him () the nameof the candidate for whom he wishes to vote, and the Presiding Officer or a companion shallmark the ballot paper accordingly () Section 68. (k) clearly states that disabled persons

should be assisted by a person entitled to vote at the election, or a father, mother, brother,sister, husband, wife, son or daughter over 18 years.

Double voting

In the Urban and Western Districts ILPI heard several complaints about double voting andvoters using the Zanzibar ID and not the voter card to identify themselves, while on Pembathere were very few complaints. While many of these complaints stems from trusted sources,these have not been confirmed or observed by ILPI directly. ILPI did observe an incidentwhere CUF supporters had blocked a group of voters wearing ZEC uniforms at theMwanakwerekwe A station, and brought them to the Mwanakwerekwe police station. At thepolice station the CUF supporters asked the police to arrest these people or open a casebecause they were double voting. After a period of shouting and increasing tension, the police

told the CUFV supporters to disperse and allowed the car of ZEC uniformed people to leave.Directly after leaving the scene, ILPI observed another daladala full of people in ZEC greenvests traversing the town. ILPI spoke with the daladala driver who was letting some of thepeople out of the car. He said they were ZEC staff voting during their lunch break. ILPIfollowed the daladala to the Kwamtipura and Amani voter stations, to see if the people shouldvote or whether their were returning to their work stations. Since the driver and the peopledressed in ZEC vests saw that ILPI was observing them, they did not leave the daladala toenter the polling centre. ILPI spoke with the ZEC constituency supervisor who said they werein fact ZEC employees coming back to their posts after voting. After 10 minutes of waitinggame, the people had still not exited the daladala, thus ILPI continued its round ofobservations leaving the suspicious vehicle to its own affairs. ,

This rather peculiar behaviour did not seem to match up with the official explanation from ZEC

that these people were employees out to vote. On Pemba there were very few complaints


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about double voting. However, one former NEC polling officer told ILPI he personally saw aZEC officer vote twice in Wete.

NECs Impact on ZEC

At several stations that ILPI visited in the Urban and West districts, NEC was slowing down

the entire voting process and opening the door for problems with the ZEC process. At stationswhere NEC ran out of Union presidential ballots they told voters to wait outside until moreballots were delivered. This was contrary to what ZEC was telling voters which was to gohome after they had finished voting. The result was large crowds of people waiting outside ofthe polling centres. In Kojani, Pemba the lack of NEC ballot papers resulted in voters refusingto start voting for all elections ZEC and NEC until all ballot papers arrived. The NEC officers inWete had to drive out the newly received ballots, before voting began for ZEC and NEC. Thisdelayed the whole election process in Kojani, which did not commence until 8:30am.

8 COUNTING

The tabulation of results was divided into three phases: first, counting at the polling stations,

secondly, counting and aggregation of results per constituency at District tallying centres andfor electronic transfer of results to the ZEC results HQ, and at last, the final compilation atBwawani Hotel near Stone Town, Unguja.

8.1 COUNTING AT POLLING STATIONS

Procedure

All three ZEC ballot boxes for the Presidential, HoR and councillors elections were generallyhandled in the same manner, with some minor variations between the counting stations. ThePresidential ballot box was opened, and ZEC staff and party agents gathered to count these.If there were misplaced ballots all boxes with misplaced ballots would be opened and

exchanged with the oversight of all people present in the station. They counted all the votes inthe ballot box first. Then the votes were sorted into one pile per party. Spoiled/uncertain/blankvotes were removed in a separate pile, but in general very few ballots were spoiled. Then theparty piles were rechecked and counted, under special attention from the relevant party agent.Then the results were written into the result form, and the relevant party agents signed forthem. The ballots were then placed in separate envelopes for valid and spoiled votes and thenreturned to the box, before the ballot box was resealed. Then the next two ballot boxes werecounted, and signed for. The total of each ballot box was compared to the total number ofvoters that day. The three result sheets were then posted on the wall outside the pollingstation, and party agents were given copies of the result forms.

From counting at a polling station in Mkoani, Pemba

Efficiency


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The efficiency of the counting varied widely based on the ZEC staff and party agentcompetency. Observing the counting at Mtopepo polling centre, Mtoni constituency in Unguja,some counting stations quickly and efficiently counted the ballots, while other spent very longcounting each box. In Mtoni the CUF candidate personally installed and paid for electricallights in all classrooms and an emergency back-up generator in case the electricity supplywould be cut so the counting could continue smoothly after sunset, in fear of a repeat of what

happened during the 2005 counting process. In other cases ZEC provided a lamp to eachcounting station to facilitate counting after dark. Observing counting at Vitongoji, Wawi,Pemba, it quickly grew dark. The ZEC team only had two small lanterns, which made theirwork difficult. There were at average 9 people involved in counting and verifying the ZECvotes, and the dim light made this process slow and more tedious.

Strain

After a long day of polling both ZEC staff and party agents were tired by the time it came tocount the votes. Many of the ZEC staff had been instructed to sleep at the polling stations thenight before, in order to be there early enough for opening. As a minimum most staff ZECand party agents were asked to be present at the stations no later than 6:30am. Thus whenILPI for instance observed counting in Vintongoji, which finished around 7:30pm, all ZEC staff

and party agents had been working a solid 13 hours straight. Finishing the lines in many areaswere hectic, and the workload was definitely substantial. The strain on the staff was evident inseveral respects: at Vitongoji, the staff repeatedly expressed a wish to just get this over anddone with. The long working day with little or no rest could thus have affected the accuracy ofthe counting process.

The Election Act, section 77 (a) opens up for the possibility that the parties could have hadnew people come in as counting agents, rather than using the party agents in this capacityas well. Each party is entitled to have one counting agent per candidate. To ILPIs knowledgeno parties utilized this opportunity to change agents for the counting process.

Party Agents

At Vitongoji, Pemba, during the signing of the result forms, several CCM party agents weremissing. According to the Election Act, section 80B. (1) (b) the Presiding officer should:prepare a separate report of the results of each Member of the House of Representativesand Presidential elections in the manner and form as the Commission may direct, which shallbe signed by the Presiding Officer and the polling agents, if present; The ZEC staff thuscompleted the form and displayed this, even if the CCM party agents were not present to signthe forms. The Election Act further states in section 80B (1) (c): the Presiding Officer shallrequire the polling agent or if present a candidate to state in the prescribed form anycomplaint or to confirm satisfaction with the counting of votes. In section 92 on the other handit states that non- attendance of agents shall not invalidate election procedures at any point.

Section 80B (1) (e) states that all party agents should receive a copy of the report of resultsafter these are displayed at the station. These would serve as proof for the parties of the

election results. ILPI heard complaints only from CUF that some of their party agents inUnguja North region were not given results forms by the ZEC officers who disappeared withthe result forms; some gave their original copies to CCM and fake copies to CUF; and somedestroyed them. According to CUF this lack of complete station level results rendered CUFunable to pursue a potential complaint process during the result verification process.

8.2 COMPILING AT CONSTITUENCY/DISTRICT LEVEL

All results (and the ballot boxes) at all polling stations were transferred to the Districtcompilation centres by the responsible ZEC presiding officers, polling officers and partyagents. At these District compilation centres polling station results would be compiled for eachconstituency. After compiling the results at constituency level, these constituency result forms

were scanned by the District Returning Office and sent off to the ZEC commission stationed atthe Results Centre based at the Bwawani Hotel, Unguja.


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The compilation of results for constituencies started from approximately 9 pm and lasted untilaround 8 am the following day.

ILPI observed the constituency supervisor working with the party agents and presiding officerswho all worked together to tally the results. Two ZEC staff per constituency would write all the

polling station results on the black board from each counting station. Then, working together,the ZEC employees and party agents would compile the total number of votes, checking andrechecking until they agreed on the overall constituency results. According to ZEC Guidelinesfor Returning Officers on the Procedures to be Followed During the Election, the ReturningOfficers are required to display the election results outside of the tallying stations. ILPI, whofollowed the tallying in the result centres in several districts on both Unguja and Pemba,never observed the posting of tallied results. ILPI asked ZEC officials about this after theelections and they said according to the election law we are not required to post the compliedthe results only declare a winner and provide certificates to the declared winner.

The compilation at Chake Chake, Pemba, was disorganized and inefficient, and CCM andCUF party officials tried to speed up the process. Contrary to the process at the othercompiling centres, the presiding officer from each polling station came in to announce the

results for that particular station (rather than having two ZEC staff writing down all results forthe whole constituency on the board). This was extremely time consuming. Many of thepresiding officers who came in to announce the results from their particular polling stationwere nervous and unprepared. Being asked to present the results in a certain order, (resultsfor ASP first, then CUF, then CCM and so forth) ILPI observed 4 different presiding officerswho needed a break to prepare for reading the results in a different order than the one theyhad on their result sheet. CUF party agents outside later commented on this to ILPI,complaining that if ZEC had adhered to their initial minimum required education level forpresiding officers (form 4), situations like these would have been avoided. One time thepresiding officers could not be found, so a different polling station had to be counted first.

The ZEC staff in charge of the compilation in Chake also performed poorly. Theirmanagement of the numbers was inadequate, and CCM and CUF officials repeatedly

corrected the results that were announced by the ZEC official compiling them with acalculator. The ZEC staff in charge at the Chake district forgot to collect the original resultsheets from the ZEC polling officers, and most of ZEC polling officers in Ziwani left with theoriginal sheets before ZEC realized they should have collected these.

The strain on polling officers, party agents, candidates and party officials was very evident atthe result centre in Chake Chake. Especially ZEC and CUF were not up to speed, and madeseveral mistakes. ILPI observed ZEC granting CUF a total of 4,964 votes in Ziwaniconstituency, whilst the actual figure should have been 5,894. This was later corrected by anoutsider, but CUF themselves did not correct this, nor did they react much when it wascorrected. According to another observer, this happened again after ILPI left, when again anoutsider corrected ZEC and gave CUF another 400 votes. CCM on the other hand in generalfollowed their results closely, and protested immediately when mistakes were made.

The compilation room in Chake Chake was too small to fit more than a couple of party agents,so these were basically excluded from the process. The Election Act, section 83A. (1)includes the counting agent (or party agent) in the list of people authorized to be present atthe addition of voters.

Upon the completion of the compilation of each constituency, the party should have beengiven access to the official results according to the Election Act, section 87. (3): TheReturning Officer shall prepare a statement as to the result of the verification and shall onrequest allow any counting agent to copy such statement. At most compilation rooms, partyagents were allowed in and thus had continuous access to all compiled results. Further,according to section 87. (4), the results report of the Returning officer should be submitted tothe Commission after having been confirmed and signed by the candidates or their counting

agents and the Returning Officer. ILPI did not observe this taking place, but it could havebeen done after observers left. CUF complained that in some areas this did not happen.


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There was serious concern with regard to the lack of transparency when sending the resultsto Bwawani from all district tallying centres: observers and party agents were refused entry tothe transmission rooms when the transmission took place.

8In Wete, there was tension when

party agents and candidates were denied access to the transmission room. ILPI observed anallegedly national security agent being allowed in, without ID. Due to the wording of the

Election Act and the ZEC Guidelines for Returning Officers, it was impossible to argue againstthis with any form of authority.

It is interesting to note that the Election Act is surprisingly imprecise on the process after thecompilation of each constituency. When the Returning Officer has the results of aconstituency, and the candidate or polling agent have signed these, the Election Act section88 specifies the following for the remaining process: When the result of a contested electionhas been ascertained the Returning Officer shall:- (a) forthwith declare to be elected thecandidate for whom the majority of votes has been cast; and (b) send a notification of electionin writing to the successful candidate; and (c) report the result of the election to theCommission which shall cause such results, together with the number of votes recorded foreach candidate in each constituency to be published in the Gazette. There is nothing herethat specifies how the results should be sent, who can be present upon sending them, how

the addition of results should be done at Bwawani, and what transparency measures are inplace to ensure a free and fair election for this final phase of the result process. Consideringthat two whole pages of the Election Act are dedicated to detailing the process of assistingincapacitated or disabled voters, one would in comparison - expect there to be detailsconcerning the final result process as well.

Compiling votes at Western District Tallying Center, Unguja

The ZEC Guidelines for Returning Officers on the Procedures to be Followed During theElection, under point 7 (iii-v) states that the Returning officer, after confirming the constituencyresults, should (iii) provide the winners with certificates of election and inform the ElectoralCommission, (iv) display the election results outside the tallying station. (v) send thepresidential results to the Electoral Commission using a prescribed form. They further detailthe following regarding the sending of the results under Additional Information onTransmission of Results: The Returning Officer hands over the results to transmission centrebased at the District Office. From the District Office the results are transmitted electronically to

8

The problem with access was also echoed in EU EOMs preliminary election statement: denial of access to politicalparty agents and international and domestic observers not only raised doubts about the transparency of the processbut also contradicted the assurances of previously agreed access given in the Memorandum of Understandingbetween the European Union and ZEC.


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the Commission for verification. The level of detail is still very low, and gives observers orparties little room to follow the final tallying process.

8.3 COMPILING AT BWAWANI, UNGUJA

The verification of the Presidential results by the commission took place behind closed doorsat the Bwawani Hotel. The results from both the counting station level and constituency levelwere scanned in and sent from the various District offices. The ZEC Director would then onbehalf of the commission verify the results, before the Commission would make theannouncement. After the first 15 constituencies were announced on the morning of 1November, CUF launched a complaint concerning the results from the Kikwajuni not matchingthe forms they had from the constituency. Apparently, CUF did not manage to providesufficient proof quickly enough to back their initial complaint. Due to rising tension/securityconcerns, and in the spirit of maridhiano, CUF subsequently dropped their complaints in orderto facilitate a speedy announcement of the results.

The major concerns that ILPI has about the results compilation and verification process are

twofold. First, the rolling results system was apparently not used as was planned by UNDPand the ESP donor group. Second, the transmission and verification process were left up tothe Secretariat with no oversight. The results should have come in on a continual basis - andas they were announced, they should have been posted on the ZEC website down to thepolling station level for various stakeholders to follow. As of 7 November 2010 the resultswere still not posted on the website and full results of Presidential, House of Representatives,and Councillor races had yet to be made available to ILPI. Additionally, when ILPI asked forPresidential results down to the polling station level, ZEC said they were still working onputting them all together. ZEC could have made the process more transparent and allowedobservers to follow ZECs validation of results at Bwawani.

Another concern relates to the ZEC server. According to an ILPI source working in ZEC theZEC results server went down for some time during the verification process, but results

continued to come in. ZECs information officer told ILPI 8 November that he had not heardabout any server problems.

9 RESULTS

The presidential results were announced at ZECs result center at Bwawani Hotel 1November, around 8:30pm. Prior to the result announcement starting around 8 am, a largegroup of CUF supporters had gathered outside the gates of the result center, demanding aspeedy announcement of the results. Several attempts by the police and CUF officials to askthe group to leave, failed. While the tensions were high both the crowd and the police did agood job of maintaining a peaceful protest. This group put pressure not only on the

commission, but also on CCM and CUF leadership on how to proceed with the process in away to avoid possible violence and the destruction of the hard won peace and reconciliation inZanzibar. Although peace prevailed, this crowd was a serious security concern. However,CUF leader Maalim Seif worked together with the police and was finally able to disperse thecrowd just before the final results were announced.

District Constituency

CUF

Percentage

President2010

CCM

Percentage

President2010

CUF

Percentage

President2005

CCM

Percentage

President2005

Wete Gando 85,4 14,4 87,8 11,9

Kojani 91,5 8,2 93,6 6,2

Mtambwe 94,4 5,4 95 4,8

Ole 86,2 13,3 87,5 12,2

Wete 84,3 15,5 85,5 14,3


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WeteTotal 88,1 11,6 89,9 9,9

Micheweni Konde 89,4 10,1 88,9 10,7

Mgogoni 89,8 9,8 88,7 10,7

Micheweni 76,8 22,1 77,5 21,2

Tumbe 91,3 8,3 92,6 6,8

MicheweniTotal 86,6 12,8 86,8 12,5

Mkoani Chambani 85,5 14 89,3 10,3

Kiwani 69,5 29,8 75,8 23,2

Mkanyageni 63,1 36,3 68,1 31,7

Mkoani 63,7 36 70,2 29,6

Mtambile 83,5 16,1 86 11,8

72,5 78,4 21,3MkoaniTotal

27

Chake

Chake Chake Chake 77,7 21,9 79,7 20

Chonga 65,2 34,1 66,2 33,5

Wawi 74,4 25 79,8 18,7

Ziwani 86,3 13,5 88,5 11,2

Chake Chake Total 76,1 23,5 79,2 20,4

Kazkazini

A Chaani 17,9 80,9 15,5 82

Matemwe 30,7 66 25,2 71,2

Mkwajuni 37,4 60,4 37,8 57,1

Tumbatu 42,2 57,1 48 51,3

Nungwi 47,1 51,4 38,3 59,9

Kazkazini

A Total 35,6 62,8 33,6 63,8

KazkaziniB Donge 10,8 88,4 8,8 90,7

Bumbwini 39,1 60,2 35,5 64

Kitope 18,4 80,5 12,8 85,6

Kazkazini

B Total 22 77,1 27,4 70,8

Kati Chwaka 17,7 81,1 12,6 86,9

Koani 29,7 69,3 24,2 75,1

Uzini 9,2 89,9 4,9 94,2

Kati Total 19,8 79,2 14,2 85,1

Kusini Makunduchi 15,9 83 12,3 87,3

Muyuni 17,7 81,5 13,2 86,5

Kusini

Total 16,8 82,3 12,7 86,9

Magharibi Bububu 47,9 51,8 47,6 51,6

Dimani 43,7 55,5 32,7 66,9Dole 29,4 69,9 23,2 76,4

Fuoni 30,2 69 31,5 67,9

Kiembe 27,4 71,8 21,5 78,4

Magogoni 55,4 44,1 42,5 56,8

Mfenesini 37,2 62,2 26,9 72,5

Mtoni 56,2 43,4 41,6 57,4

Mwanakwerekwe 39,2 60,4 32 67,5

MagharibiTotal 42,1 57,3 33,9 65,7

Mjini Amani 34,4 64,9 23,4 75,9

Chumbini 39 60 32,3 66,2

Jang'ombe 28,3 71,1 22,9 76,7Kikwajuni 31,5 68 32,9 66,9

Kwahani 21,1 78,1 31,9 67,4


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Kwamtipura 32,3 66,5 24,7 73,7

Magomeni 39,9 59,4 35,6 63,9

Mji Mkongwe 74,5 25,1 73,3 26,3

Mpendae 41,8 41,8 32 67,7

Rahaleo 35,2 64,2 31,9 67,4

Mjini

Total 37,5 61,8 33,9 65,4

Concerns

Some of the results appear to suggest certain contradictions. For instance, in Nungwi, North Aon Unguja, CUF got 3,473 votes for Maalim Seif, and CCM had 3,791 for Dr. Shein. For theHouse of Representatives on the other hand, CUF got 3,808 votes compared to CCMs 3,593.CUF also won the MP seat and the local Councilor seat. But again CCM triumphed over CUFin the NEC Presidential elections with 4,066 votes to CUFs 3,574 votes. According to a CUFleader: It is highly unlikely that many in Nungwi would vote for their local CUF representative,but not for Maalim Seif. If the discrepancy had been the other way around; with more votes for

Maalim Seif than for the local representative, that could be caused by local grievances.According to CCM supporters, the discrepancy was caused by CCM supporters who wereunhappy with their local candidates in Nungwi. A second aspect to question is the discrepancyof votes between the two totals: 137 more votes for the House of Representative than for thepresidential election.

Other examples that are interesting to note are Makunduchi (South) and Fuoni (West). InMakunduchi a total of 7,885 valid votes were cast for President: 6,544 for CCMs Dr. Shein1,256 for CUFs Maalim Seif and 85 for the various smaller parties. In the House ofRepresentatives race only 7,601 vaild votes were cast with CCM taking 6,456 and CUF 1,145.In Fuoni for the Presidential race, 9,201 valid votes were cast. Dr. Shein received 6,351,Maalim Seif 2,777, and the other candidates 73 votes. In the House of Representatives racefewer votes were cast 9,094 but CUF took a higher percentage with 2,827 and CCM receiving

6,267.

10 REACTIONS

Although the presidential results were very close, the reactions following the announcement ofthe results have for the most part been positive and peaceful. Both CUF and CCM supportershave been celebrating in the streets, often side by side, on both islands. CUF supporters werealso present in high numbers during CCM President Ali Mohammed Sheins inauguration

ceremony, 3 November.

Immediately after the presidential results were announced, Maalim Seif gave a speech at theResults Centre. In his speech he acknowledged the results and reminded people that bothparties had won, with reference to the government of national unity. He also expressed thathe was ready to work with Dr Shein in the forthcoming unity government. Dr Shein also hailedthe government of national unity in his speech and said he would need Maalim Seifsassistance. The positive, pro-reconciliation and unity-speeches were reflected in the reactionson the ground the following day.


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Police calming the crowd demanding the results be announced outside of the Bwawani Hotel

CCM and CUF youth celebrating in Wete following the presidential announcement

In interviews with ILPI, CUF supporters have expressed that the counting process and theresult was not free and fair, and that the result reflects this. They think that Maalim Seif wasforced to accept defeat to secure peace and continued reconciliation. A ZEC returning officertold ILPI that the election was free and fair, at least until the result announcement.

A CUF district party secretary told ILPI that the party respected Maalim Seifs speech and

acknowledged the result, because Maalim Seif had done so. The CUF House ofRepresentatives for Ziwani said: we are pleased, but we know what happened. We acceptedthe result, even if it were a lot of discrepancies. We had to put Zanzibar first, and now wehope the GNU goes well. One CUF supporter in Stone Town was frustrated. I amdisappointed, but you know, we have to be happy. This sentiment was echoed by many CUFsupporters. Although many felt that Maalim Seif had been cheated for his victory, they werepleased that it has been the most peaceful election since multi-party-politics was introduced.A man in Chake commented: Maalim Seifs speech was good. Telling ZEC that they have tochange shows us that he accepted defeat, even though he knew he had won. You need to bevery strong to be able to do this, and other African leaders would never have accepted suchan outcome. Many people would have died if he had not done what he did. A man in Wetealso praised Maalim Seifs speech: His speech of just four minutes made a huge difference.

Other CUF supporters pointed to the unofficial NEC results when claiming that CUF had beencheated of the election victory: Do you think that Maalim Seif really would get less votes than


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the CUF Union Presidential candidate Ibrahim Lipumba, who received 67 percentage of thevotes from Zanzibar?

When ILPI met CCM members in Chake Chake, Pemba, 2 November, they were celebratingand members were preparing to go to Mkoani to take the boat to Dr Sheins inauguration thefollowing day. The CCM officials we spoke to were pleased and thought ZEC had been doing

a good job. The CCM MP candidate for Chonga constituency congratulated CUF with a goodelection on Pemba.

Although CCM won the presidency, CUF decided to celebrate their constituency victories aswell as celebrate the government of national unity, that will give CUF the first vice president aswell as several ministerial posts. 2 November ILPI observed CUF and CCM supporters inshared celebration on Pemba and Unguja, sharing party flags, caps and kangas, and evenCUF supporters modifying their own party song to include CCM. CUF supporters on Ungujatended to be more accepting of CCM than CCM of CUF, with people at the CCM Kisongebranch telling ILPI, CCM are the only ones allowed to celebrate here. The celebrationfollowing the close race has demonstrated a remarkable spirit that reflects themaridhiano/reconciliation process that has taken place on the isles since November last year.

11 RECOMMENDATIONS

Based on ILPIs observations we would recommend ZEC or other relevant government officesto take the following steps:

PVR: The government should make it easier and less expensive to get a Zanzibar ID card,especially in cases where people lack an original birth certificate. A birth and death registryshould be opened on Pemba to alleviate this process. A review and reform of the Zanzibar IDprocess and Zanzibar ID database and office could help to improve the trust in andtransparency of the office. This would also help ensure that all eligible voters who want toparticipate in the electoral process are given their right to do so.

Voter education: Voter education programs should be started earlier and should bemanaged more effectively to ensure that civic and voter education reaches all segments of theZanzibari population. ILPI was approached several times by ordinary Zanzibaris and CSOs,who emphasized the need for continuous civic education, not only right before an election.According to both CUF and CCM most of the voter education was left to the parties, and therewas widespread disappointment that ZEC was not more involved.

Campaign: In order to ensure a level playing field, no party should be allowed to use stateresources to support their campaigns. An anti-corruption body and election expenses actshould be established on Zanzibar in order to decrease corruption, buying of votes, andregulate the use of money in the campaigns.

A neutral ZEC secretariat/poll workers: ZEC has been accused of being too close to theruling party, and should meet these allegations with a comprehensive review of the secretariatof ZEC, to ensure that this is unbiased and politically neutral. Such reviews should alsoinclude all ZEC staff, and should guide all recruitment procedures. For election staff ZECshould deal with the allegations that nepotism and political affiliation were emphasized morethan formal requirements in the hiring process.

Less confusion when casting the ballot: Colored ballots and corresponding ballot boxes,as well as clearly marked ballot boxes, will avoid unnecessary confusion in the next election.

ZEC staff voting on Election Day: It is commendable that ZEC are making sure that theiremployees are given the chance to vote. However, the manner in which ZEC staff were drivenaround in dala-dala mini-buses, arriving at polling stations with only their ZEC-vests to identify

them as ZEC employees, and notably without IDs, created suspicion. Neither party agents norobservers were informed about this practice. ILPI would thus recommend that ZEC staffdriven around to vote on Election Day in 2015 are carrying proper ZEC identity cards. ZEC


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staff should also inform party agents and observers in advance about this practice to avoidunnecessary suspicion.

Result management: The major aspect ZEC and the government should focus on Improvingfor the next election is the transparency in the final stage of results and compilation. ZECshould review their work, with special focus on the last section of the result process, and

ensure that this process is transparent in the future. The House of Representatives shouldreview the Election Act, with special focus on section 88, and see if a more detailed processfor the last section of the result management should be drawn up. Such a specification of thefinal phase of results would be an important improvement. Observers and party agents shouldbe a

election observation report final zanzibar 2010

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