Concern at Zanzibar elections mounts

Many have been beaten by police in post-election violence

International condemnation of the general elections in Tanzania's semi-autonomous Zanzibar islands continued to mount, with the United States joining the European Union and the Organisation of African Unity in criticising the conduct of the poll.

The Tanzanian Government is holding fresh elections in 16 of the 50 constituencies on the islands this Sunday, but the EU said that this ignored the scale of the problem.

The CCM will never accept that voting will be repeated across Zanzibar

CCM central committee

While elections in mainland Tanzania were peaceful, voting in Zanzibar was described by Commonwealth observers as a shambles.

The Organisation of African Unity (OAU) said the elections were not freely or peacefully conducted.

US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said: "We are deeply concerned about the failure of the electoral process on Zanzibar."

He called on the Tanzanian authorities to fully investigate irregularities and bring those responsible to justice.

The comments follow widespread reports of ballot rigging and attacks on opposition leaders and supporters.

The main opposition, the Civic United Front (CUF) has said it will boycott the re-run elections.

New election material

The Tanzanian Government is flying in new election materials from South Africa in preparation for the partial re-run in the affected constituencies.

The opposition is demanding a full re-run of the polls

On Thursday, a meeting by the ruling CCM party, chaired by Tanzania's President Benjamin Mkapa, reaffirmed that a repeat of the polls would be held only in constituencies where voting was marred by irregularities.

"The CCM will never accept that voting will be repeated across Zanzibar," the party said.

But the CUF says it will not participate unless a full re-run is held.

The EU urged the government to find "a solution which is acceptable to all parties in Zanzibar".

According to the constitution, Mr Mkapa, who enjoys a clear lead in the union presidential election, cannot be sworn in again before presidential election results in Zanzibar are officially announced.

The chaos in Zanzibar mirrors the first multi-party elections held in 1995, which were won by the CCM but widely condemned by the opposition and observers as fraudulent.