Zanzibar leader re-elected

ZANZIBAR - The president of Zanzibar has been re-elected after a violence-plagued poll, but the opposition alleged fraud and promised protests in a growing political crisis on Tanzania's volatile tourist islands.

Security forces clashed with opposition supporters throughout the day and aid workers said one person was shot dead during disturbances on the island of Pemba.

Police and journalists there could not confirm a report by the opposition Civic United Front (CUF) that as many as five of its members were killed on Pemba, a CUF bastion.

After the announcement of victory for the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM or "Party of the Revolution"), thousands of pro-government supporters in green and yellow party colours poured onto the streets hooting horns, waving flags and dancing.

"I announce officially that Amani Abeid Karume is re-elected," Electoral Commission chairman Masauni Yusuf Masauni said, unveiling the third consecutive ruling party win on the semi-autonomous, former slave-trading islands that have long been seen by the opposition as a hotbed of electoral fraud.

Masauni said the ruling CCM, which also holds power on the Tanzanian mainland, won 53.2 per cent of votes versus 46.1 for the opposition in the local presidential race on Sunday.

President Karume was to be re-inaugurated on Wednesday morning - diplomats said they received the invitation on Saturday, a day before the vote.

The CUF dismissed the victory as "cooked up" through vote-rigging and vowed a campaign of peaceful street protest.

"Once again the democratisation process in Tanzania has failed in Zanzibar," CUF National President Ibrahim Lipumba told Reuters. "We appeal to the international community not to turn a blind eye."

CUF presidential candidate for Zanzibar, Seif Sharif Hamad, said: "We have all the evidence that I won and that these results were doctored. The Zanzibar Election Commission has decided to plunge Zanzibar into another political crisis."

"FROM NOW ON...WAR"

Outside opposition headquarters in a narrow alley of historic Stone Town, on Zanzibar's main island Unguja, supporters were dejected but defiant.

"I will demonstrate and fight until I get my rights. We will not let them rob us again," said Shaame Ali, 29.

Celebrating CCM supporters said the victory was genuine.

"From now on it's total war with them (CUF)," said pro-government resident Saidi Mohammed. "Thrice we have beaten them. There is no talks with them now."

Chanting ruling-party supporters jogged down the streets, and cars and trucks piled high with revellers raced around the town that earlier in the day had seen violent confrontations.

Asked if the government would share power - a solution to Zanzibar's perennial tensions which has been suggested by some diplomats - CCM spokesman Vuai Ali Vuai was non-committal.

"It's too early to say anything about this," he said. "According to our policy the winner takes all."

In a troubled poll sullying Tanzania's reputation as one of Africa's most stable nations, voting on Sunday was marred by violent clashes between rival supporters and security forces.

Skirmishes continued on Monday. And again at daybreak on Tuesday police firing dozens of tear gas rounds sought to disperse groups of opposition supporters gathered in the narrow alleys near their party headquarters.

A CUF spokesman said security forces had shot dead one opposition supporter in remote Wete village and four more in Konde as security forces conducted house-to-house searches, according to information from party members there.

Aid groups said they had confirmed one person was shot dead in Wete and were investigating rumours of other deaths in Konde.

"My volunteers informed me that they collected one dead body in Wete today," Red Cross official Ubwa Suleiman told Reuters.

Police could not confirm the deaths reported by CUF but said three officers were badly hurt in Pemba when a tear gas canister backfired during a confrontation with opposition supporters.

PROVOKE CHAOS

The opposition says vote-rigging in the mainly Muslim islands of 1 million people denied it victory twice before. After the 2000 vote, around 35 people died during protests against alleged poll rigging, most in Pemba.

The government said the CUF provoked chaos and incited supporters by "illegally" and prematurely claiming victory.

The government - whose supporters say the foreign community favours the opposition - has held Zanzibar since a 1964 revolt against Arab rule. The CCM's roots are socialist and it allowed a multi-party system in Tanzania in 1992.

The east African nation is a favourite of the foreign donor community. Zanzibar is the only place where President Benjamin Mkapa's government is seriously challenged by the opposition.

He faces a national vote on December 18.

- REUTERS