Mwinyi, 53 Elected President in Zanzibar, Opposition Kick

Mwinyi, 53 Elected President in Zanzibar, Opposition Kick

Mwinyi, 53 Elected President in Zanzibar, Opposition Kick

Hussein Mwinyi, aged 53 and former Tanzania Defence minister Hussein has been elected the eighth president of the Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar following a landslide victory.

Mwinyi is the son of a former president from the same political party.

Mwinyi, a candidate of the ruling party, Chama Cha Maninduzi (CCM) was declared the winner with 830, 000 votes translating to 76% of all votes cast. Slightly over a half a million Zanzibari citizens were eligible to vote in the October 28 General Election.

His closest challenger is Seif Sharif Hamad of the Opposition party Alliance for Change and Transparency (ACT Wazalendo).

The outgoing president Ali Mohamed Shein did not vie after serving two five-year terms in office.

Sharif was arrested while trying to vote on Tuesday before being released hours later.

Zanzibar has a history of contested polls, including in 2015 when they were annulled for not being free and fair. The opposition boycotted the re-run and the CCM party’s candidate was declared the winner.

Earlier on the day, politicians allied to the ACT Wazalendo had made claims of electoral fraud and arbitrary arrests of their agents and supporters by the police officers.

Immediately the electoral agency announced the results, the party leader Zitto Kabwe and secretary general Fatma Karume put up Twitter posts claiming Hamad had been detained at Madema police station.

“Police have arrested the whole ACT leadership in Zanzibar and one of the leader was beaten to near death. We are not sure if he is still alive and he is in custody,” Kabwe stated.

They alleged he was being held alongside party Omar Faki who vied the Tanzania presidential seat against incumbent John Pombe Magufuli.

“In the past despite manipulation of the electoral process, CCM still craved national and international legitimacy. Not any more. CCM has made a Faustian bargain, sold its soul for absolute power. The Rubicon has been crossed. They don’t care to be seen as good guys anymore,”Fatma added.

Tanzania mainland Opposition party CHADEMA boss Tundu Lissu on Thursday, October 29, said he would not accept results which placed Magufuli ahead.

“The results announced since yesterday are therefore illegitimate and don’t constitute or express true will of Tanzanian people. What is being presented to the world is complete fraud,” he stated.

Lissu told the media he had instructed his lawyer Robert Armsterdam to take up the matter of human right violations meted on his supporters before the African Union and the Commonwealth secretariat for investigations.