Scuffles break out as Zanzibar votes

ZANZIBAR – Sporadic violence erupted at polling stations on Tanzania’s volatile Zanzibar archipelago yesterday as voters cast ballots in hotly contested elections amid tight security, fears of unrest and allegations of fraud.

Scores of riot police – some of the 35 000 security forces deployed to the semi-autonomous islands for the election – patrolled the streets but appeared little concerned with clashes between supporters of rival parties. “There is no need to shout,” one officer bellowed over a loudspeaker in Stone Town, the old city and cultural heart of Zanzibar, where clashes took place outside at least two polling stations.”Stay in the queue, don’t bother anyone,” he said as opposition supporters beat allegedly bogus voters they said had been brought in by the ruling party, which is facing a stiff challenge in the polls.In the popular waterfront area of Forodhani, CUF voters hurling stones and wielding sticks attacked dozens of would-be CCM electors in three different groups, saying they had been brought in from outside the district, AFP correspondents said.Some of those attacked confirmed to AFP that they did not reside in Forodhani, which is a bastion of the opposition Civic United Front (CUF), but had been brought by force to the district by leaders of the ruling Revolutionary Party (CCM).The same situation was reported at another CUF stronghold, Malindi, where voters verbally attacked women they said had come from outside the district.The opposition alleges that voter lists have been falsified to allow government supporters to cast ballots in different places under different names.The lists were posted at the entrances to polling stations and people crowded around to find their names as hundreds lined up to begin voting when the polls opened at 7am.Zanzibaris are choosing a president and parliament in the elections that are going ahead despite the postponement of national polls and those on the mainland which were delayed until mid-December after the death of a candidate.- Nampa-AFP”There is no need to shout,” one officer bellowed over a loudspeaker in Stone Town, the old city and cultural heart of Zanzibar, where clashes took place outside at least two polling stations.”Stay in the queue, don’t bother anyone,” he said as opposition supporters beat allegedly bogus voters they said had been brought in by the ruling party, which is facing a stiff challenge in the polls.In the popular waterfront area of Forodhani, CUF voters hurling stones and wielding sticks attacked dozens of would-be CCM electors in three different groups, saying they had been brought in from outside the district, AFP correspondents said.Some of those attacked confirmed to AFP that they did not reside in Forodhani, which is a bastion of the opposition Civic United Front (CUF), but had been brought by force to the district by leaders of the ruling Revolutionary Party (CCM).The same situation was reported at another CUF stronghold, Malindi, where voters verbally attacked women they said had come from outside the district.The opposition alleges that voter lists have been falsified to allow government supporters to cast ballots in different places under different names.The lists were posted at the entrances to polling stations and people crowded around to find their names as hundreds lined up to begin voting when the polls opened at 7am.Zanzibaris are choosing a president and parliament in the elections that are going ahead despite the postponement of national polls and those on the mainland which were delayed until mid-December after the death of a candidate.- Nampa-AFP