Tanzania election: Zanzibar vote annulled over 'violations'

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• From the sectionAfrica

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Image captionZanzibar maintains a political union with Tanzania, but has its own parliament and president

Elections on Tanzania's semi-autonomous archipelago of Zanzibar have been annulled for not being free and fair, the chairman of the islands' electoral commission has announced.

Jecha Salum Jecha said youths had invaded polling stations, votes had been tampered with and electoral commissioners had exchanged blows.

The majority of the criticism were levelled at the vote on Pemba Island.

Zanzibaris voted in local and national elections on Sunday.

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The elections in Tanzania are the most competitive in the country's history, with four opposition parties forming the Ukawa coalition.

Ukawa's national presidential candidate Edward Lowassa said discrepancies in Zanzibar's local elections could be mirrored in the national vote.

Earlier, he called for the national electoral commission to stop releasing results, alleging the whole process nationwide had been marred by fraud.

He urged his supporters to remain calm and not to take to the streets and protest.

Previous elections have turned violent on Zanzibar, which is made up of the islands of Unguja and Pemba and is popular with tourists.

'Agents ejected from polling stations'

In his statement, Mr Jecha accused Zanzibari electoral commissioners of being partisan.

Image copyrightAFP

Image captionMore than 22.7 million people were registered to vote in Tanzania's general elections on Sunday

He said they did not know each other and their many differences had led to physical fights.

More votes had been cast in some areas than the registered number of voters, especially in Pemba, where some party agents had been ejected from polling stations, Mr Jecha said.

The BBC's Sammy Awami in Zanzibar says tension has been rising on the islands over the last few days but so far there has been no violence.

There has been a heavy security presence and some streets have been closed, he says.

Officials stopped announcing results on Tuesday after soldiers stormed the electoral commission compound in Zanzibar and locked people inside for more than three hours.

On Monday, Ukawa candidate Seif Sharif Hamad had declared himself the winner of the Zanzibari presidential poll.

This attracted a sharp rebuke from ruling CCM party officials, who said the declaration was illegal and risked the islands' stability, our reporter says.

It is unclear if and when new elections for the president and parliament of the archipelago will be held, he says.

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Tanzania's tightly contested election:

• CCM was formed in 1977 from a merger of two post-colonial parties and has effectively been in power since independence in 1961.
• It has fielded Works Minister John Magufuli, 55, as its presidential candidate.

• He is being challenged by Edward Lowassa, 62, who quit CCM after he failed to win its presidential nomination.

• He is contesting the poll under the banner of the Ukawa coalition.

Could CCM lose?

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