Ruling Party in Tanzania Wins Zanzibar Vote

The ruling party candidate was proclaimed Zanzibar’s new president Tuesday, ending a chaotic election that was criticized by international observers and by an opposition that said it would not recognize the results.

The Zanzibar Electoral Commission, handpicked by the ruling Revolutionary Party of Tanzania, said party leader Amani Karume won 67% of the vote in the semiautonomous region, while the leader of the opposition Civic United Front, Seif Sharif Hamad, got 33%.

International and Tanzanian election monitors said the original Oct. 29 vote was fundamentally flawed because of stolen ballot papers, voting irregularities and police interference.

A rerun was held in 16 districts Sunday to address some of those problems, but the Civic United Front had demanded new elections in all 50 districts under an interim government to guarantee a fair vote.

The electoral panel said 85% of Zanzibar’s 446,482 registered voters took part in the balloting.

The commission said the ruling party had won 34 seats in Zanzibar’s 50-member House of Representatives, a two-thirds majority that will allow it to alter the islands’ constitution. The Civic United Front won 16 seats, all on Pemba, the smaller of Zanzibar’s two populated islands.

Zanzibar united with Tanganyika in 1964 to form Tanzania but retained some autonomy.