2020 Zanzibari general election
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General elections were held in Zanzibar on 28 October 2020 alongside the Tanzanian general elections to elect the President and National Assembly of the Semi-autonomous state of Zanzibar.[1] Voters elect the president, Zanzibar House of Representatives and local government councillors. By convention, the election was held on the last Wednesday of October and is supervised by the Zanzibar Election Commission.[2]
Incumbent president Ali Mohamed Shein was ineligible to be elected to a third term because of term limits and stepped down as president on 3 November.[3] The president of Zanzibar is the third highest position in the Union government of Tanzania.
Background
[edit]Elections in Zanzibar have often been contentious. The ruling party Chama Cha Mapinduzi has maintained a government within the isles since independence and has never lost an election. The opposition has continually accused the government of cheating their way through the elections and almost every election has resulted in post-election violence.[4] Said violence in 2015 was most heated after the electoral commission's controversial annulment of the elections, citing irregularities. A rerun was held in 2016, however, but the opposition had boycotted the election, giving the ruling party a landslide victory.
The total number of voters registered was 448,482, a decrease of 55,300 from the 2015 elections. It was estimated that almost 120,000 voters were unable to register due to Zanzibar ID Document requirements.[5]
Presidential candidates
[edit]Chama Cha Mapinduzi
[edit]With incumbent president Ali Mohamed Shein constitutionally bared for a third term, the CCM ticket for presidency was hotly contested.[6] Dr Hussein Mwinyi won the nomination against 31 candidates at the CCM party congress held on July 20, 2020.[7]
Opposition
[edit]Seif Sharif Hamad, will be running for a 6th time for the presidency of Zanzibar, however, under the Alliance for Change and Transparency ticket after he left Civic United Front in March 2019.[8] ACT-Wazalendo held their central committee elections on 5 August 2020. The party's 420 central committee members nominated Seif Hamad with 99.76% vote as the Zanzibar presidential candidate. Hamad ran unopposed and only 1 member of the committee cast a vote against Mr Hamad.[9]
Results
[edit]President
[edit]| Candidate | Party | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hussein Mwinyi | Chama Cha Mapinduzi | 380,402 | 77.98 | |
| Seif Sharif Hamad | Alliance for Change and Transparency | 99,103 | 20.31 | |
| Othman Rashid Khamis | Chama Cha Kijamii | 2,235 | 0.46 | |
| Said Issa Mohammed | Chadema | 1,702 | 0.35 | |
| Mussa Haji Kombo | Civic United Front | 1,428 | 0.29 | |
| Hamad Rashid Mohammed | Alliance for Democratic Change | 996 | 0.20 | |
| Juma Ally Khatib | Tanzania Democratic Alliance | 392 | 0.08 | |
| Said Soud Said | Alliance for Tanzania Farmers Party | 285 | 0.06 | |
| Ally Omar Juma | Chama cha Ukombozi wa Umma | 249 | 0.05 | |
| Hamad Mohamed Ibrahim | United People's Democratic Party | 181 | 0.04 | |
| Khamis Fakhi Mgau | National Reconstruction Alliance | 160 | 0.03 | |
| Mwalimu Hussein Juma | Tanzania Labour Party | 142 | 0.03 | |
| Amour Hassan Amour | Demokrasia Makini | 133 | 0.03 | |
| Mfaume Khamis Hassan | National League for Democracy | 122 | 0.03 | |
| Shafi Hassan Suleim | Democratic Party | 106 | 0.02 | |
| Mohamed Omar Suleiman | Union for Multiparty Democracy | 104 | 0.02 | |
| Issa Mohamed Zonga | Sauti ya Umma | 102 | 0.02 | |
| Total | 487,842 | 100.00 | ||
| Valid votes | 487,842 | 97.81 | ||
| Invalid/blank votes | 10,944 | 2.19 | ||
| Total votes | 498,786 | 100.00 | ||
| Registered voters/turnout | 566,352 | 88.07 | ||
| Source: NBS, Mwananchi | ||||
House of Representatives
[edit]| Party | Seats | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Elected | Women | Nominated | Total | |||
| Chama Cha Mapinduzi | 46 | 18 | 4 | 68 | ||
| Alliance for Change and Transparency | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | ||
| Tanzania Democratic Alliance | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | ||
| Attorney General and Speaker | – | – | 2 | 2 | ||
| Total | 50 | 18 | 7 | 75 | ||
| Source: NBS | ||||||
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ "Averting Violence in Zanzibar's Knife-edge Election". Crisis Group. 2019-06-11. Retrieved 2020-06-23.
- ^ "Zanzibar Electoral Commission - Electoral Commissions Forum of SADC Countries". www.ecfsadc.org. Archived from the original on 2020-06-25. Retrieved 2020-06-23.
- ^ "Shein: My successor will assume a better Zanzibar". The Citizen. Retrieved 2020-06-23.
- ^ "Averting Violence in Zanzibar's Knife-edge Election". Crisis Group. 2019-06-11. Retrieved 2020-06-23.
- ^ Hamad, Maalim Seif Sharif (2020-06-17). "OPINIONISTA: Tanzania's October elections will be neither free nor fair unless urgent reforms are introduced". Daily Maverick. Retrieved 2020-06-23.
- ^ "Race for Zanzibar Presidential race hots up as Mbarawa joins". The Citizen. Retrieved 2020-06-23.
- ^ "Pundits, politicians react to Mwinyi choice for Z'bar polls". The Citizen. Retrieved 2020-07-11.
- ^ "Why I'm running for the Zanzibar presidency, again". African Arguments. 2020-07-01. Retrieved 2020-07-01.
- ^ "Membe to face Magufuli in October polls as ACT presidential". The Citizen. Retrieved 2020-08-06.
