Opposition calls for fresh polls in Zanzibar

The Civic United Front (CUF), Tanzania's main opposition party, has called again for fresh general elections in Zanzibar, according to reports on Thursday from the Indian Ocean archipelago.

CUF Secretary-General Seif Sharrif Hamad said that fresh polls should be supervised by either the United Nations or by a local transitional government.

The CUF has been challenging the legality of last year's general elections, in which the opposition party was defeated for a third time in the isles' multi-party elections. It was defeated in the 1995 and 2000 Zanzibar elections as well.

In a press briefing held at his residence in Zanzibar on Wednesday, Hamad told reporters that the last elections had been "clouded with irregularities and rigging" and that "his party was robbed of victory."

Though CUF has been disputing the poll results, the Commonwealth, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the East African Community (EAC) have all declared last October's Zanzibar general elections "free and fair."

During the last elections, CUF had 19 of its members elected to the Zanzibar House of Representatives, or parliament of the Indian Ocean archipelago.

The ruling party, Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM), had 31 of its members elected to the parliament.

Source: Xinhua