November 2nd. Immediately after the results were declared, residents of Pujini village in North Pemba fled their homes after a KMKM soldier disappeared. Other soldiers retaliated later by raiding the village and beating and robbing people….(later, on 16th November): ‘Police recovered the body of a soldier who was allegedly murdered by opposition party supporters. According to eyewitnesses, the deceased was abducted while riding a motorcycle with a colleague, who escaped, and was beaten to death by unidentified people. The police said that two suspects had appeared in the regional court in connection with the death – Guardian.
President Karume reappointed Shamsi Vuai Nahodha as Chief Minister. He also revived the post of Deputy Chief Minister and appointed Ali Juma Shamhuna. The House of Representatives also re-elected Pandu Ameir Kificho (CCM) as Speaker; he got 44 votes against Aziza Suleiman of CUF with 25 votes. With more members to be appointed, the House will have a total of 80 members of whom 50 are elected. Fifteen members will be nominated under the special women seats arrangement while the president can appoint up to 10 MP’s. He also appoints five regional commissioners who enter the House as ex-officio members. At the end of the day the composition of the House will be such that CCM will have a large enough majority to dominate – Mtanzania.
5th November. A mob of CUF supporters attacked and seriously injured two local photojournalists in Dar Salaam as they tried to cover a post election CUF meeting; a third, who was about to be attacked, jumped on the passenger seat of a passing motorcycle and escaped; some of those in the mob angrily declared that journalists were enemies of CUF …….the action was later condemned by almost everyone and did little to help the CUF cause.
11th November. The two CUF Commissioners on the Zanzibar Electoral Commission (ZEC) at a press conference in Dar es Salaam, created something of a sensation when they said: “We are not satisfied with how the whole process was conducted in Unguja. We were not involved in verifying the results gathered from polling stations. The ZEC did not want to involve us in monitoring the exercise. ZEC election rules and regulations were violated, including the failure to reveal the voters register until the morning of the election and the failure to allow us to see the original forms of the election results from polling stations signed by party monitors. Published results show that some 45,000 eligible voters did not cast their votes. This was due to intimidation from the heavy presence of security forces. We believe the results in Unguja were ‘cooked’. Asked why they had been so long in making their statement and making it in Dar es Salaam rather than Zanzibar, they said that they feared for their safety in Zanzibar. But they intended to return – Guardian.
11th November. CUF members of the House of Representatives boycotted its inaugural ceremony.
21st November. The House of Representatives elected 3 CCM MP’s and 2 CUF MP’s to serve in the National Assembly in Dodoma.
24th November. The Guardian reported that President Karume had appointed 13 cabinet ministers for his second term, ten of whom had served in the previous cabinet. There were three new faces and a total of three women. Only one Minister comes from Pemba – Ms Zainab Omar Mohammed, Minister of State in the President’s Office (Special Duties).
November 28th. Leaders of 13 Tanzanian opposition political parties issued a statement castigating the role played by paramilitary forces in the Zanzibar elections, which they said were skewed in favour of CCM. They wanted the National Electoral Commission (NEC) in Dar es Salaam to remove Zanzibar paramilitary forces and Zanzibar Electoral Commission officials from the forthcoming Union elections in the Isles, because these elections were outside the jurisdiction of the Isles’ electoral body. The leaders said that they were taking precautions to avoid a repeat of the electoral malpractices that led to some observers claiming that the Zanzibar polls were flawed. In addition, the parties asked the NEC to display the voter registers at polling stations in advance so that voters could verify their names before election day. The leaders also warned that they would resist attempts to ferry non-residents to vote in Union elections on the Isles – Guardian.
November 26th. CUF accused the government of using its police force to arrest two CUF leaders (Mohamed Dedes, a member of the CUF General Council and Said Abdullah, Director for Youth) in order to ‘intimidate and silence’ them during the on-going electoral campaign in Zanzibar. No excuse for the arrests was given’ – Tanzania Daima.
November 26th. President Karume, campaigning in Tabora, predicted the demise of CUF. It was in the doldrums after its defeat in the elections in Zanzibar and it would not be long before the party disintegrated, he said. Despair was now setting in among the CUF rank and file after the party’s ‘dismal’ showing in the 1995, 2000 and last month’s elections’. He criticised CUF leaders for having an ‘obsessive fixation’ with State House. He maintained that Zanzibaris knew exactly what they were doing when they re-elected CCM. President Karume said it was time the international community stopped being deceived by CUF – Guardian.
THE COSTS
Prior to the postponement of the election the government budgeted Tsh. 94.2 billion for the elections. Shs 9.4m of this came from donors for civic education and journalists’ training being conducted by NGO’s. The government then had to disperse an extra Tsh. 5.3 billion to cover ballot papers’ printing and training, ahead of the main elections on December 14th.
The government continued its monthly payment of subsidies to five political parties according to the number of MP’s they had in the previous parliament. Thus CCM got Shs 553 million per month, CUF Shs 80 million, TLP Shs 32 million, CHADEMA Shs 5.6 million and UDP Shs 1.3 million – Express.