Post by Onyango Oloo on Nov 11, 2015 14:39:51 GMT 3
Excerpt:
Although the CCM won two-thirds of votes on the mainland it risks unrest by annulling the election results on the islands
The status of Chama cha Mapinduzi as one of the continent's grand old parties was cemented this week. Victory in the presidential and parliamentary polls on 25 October sees John Pombe Joseph Magufuli as President-elect and CCM set to return to the National Assembly with a solid two-thirds majority (AC Vol 56 No 21, CCM faces close vote). Yet a contested result in the vote for Zanzibar's President has caused a constitutional crisis that strikes at the heart of Tanzania, a union between the Tanzanian Mainland and Zanzibar in which the islands have always sat uneasily. The constitution stipulates that Zanzibar's electors vote for their own president and House of Representatives, in addition to a Union president and parliament. Islands opposition party Civic United Front's (CUF) threat of street demonstrations has receded as talks with CCM continued this week. CCM is unwilling to back down and is calling for a heightened security response and insisting that the election be re-run.
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www.africa-confidential.com/article/id/11292/Zanzibar_faces_poll_re-run