ACT smell a rat over plan to review electoral boundaries

Dar es Salaam. Opposition ACT-Wazalendo has raised suspicion over plan by the Zanzibar Electoral Commission’s (ZEC) to review electoral boundaries, saying the move was unconstitutional.

ZEC announced yesterday it had received suggestions from political parties and citizens for redemarcation of electoral boundaries in the Isles ahead of the October General Election.

“We ACT Wazalendo make our position clear that we don’t support review of electoral boundaries as it is against the Zanzibar constitution of 1984 which stupilates that review of electoral boundaries can be done after the passing of between eight and ten years since the previous exercise, reads ACT’s statement signed by the party’s deputy secretary general (Zanzibar), Nassor Ahmed Mazrui.

The party says the move was set to benefit the ruling party in the upcoming General Election.

“What we know is that ZEC had cut constituencies in 2015, we wonder what prompts the (ZEC) redraw the boundaries only after five years,” the statement reads.

ACT lists constitutional criteria guiding review of boundaries as including administrative boundaries, modes of transport, population and representation between urban and rural citizens.

“These criteria are intentionally violated by ZEC to benefit CCM,” it reads.

But ZEC insits everything it was doing is under its mandate and as per the constitution and nothing was being violated.

“This is one of our mandates as a commission. Article 120 of our constitution gives ZEC the mandate to review electoral boundaries any time before the General Election and after 8 to 10 years,” said the acting ZEC chief legal officer, Mbaraka Seid Hathun.

He said one of the obligations of the electoral body was to review boundaries.

“This is a normal exercise. We have done this many times when the General Election approaches. The allegations that it is a plan to help a particular party are baseless,” he Mr Hathum.

“ACT-Wazalendo as an institution, has a constitutional right to open a case in the court to oppose the duties imposed on the commission by the country’s constitution,” he added.

CCM’s spokesperson in Zanzibar, Ms Catherina Peter, said what was being done by the ZEC was an agreement reached by all political parties.

“ACT-Wazalendo has no idea of what political parties and ZEC have agreed several times. As political parties we agreed to have this pre-election review, now I don’t understand what they are up against,.

“We all agreed. This party (ACT) was not in the agreement process because by then we were with the Civic United Front (Cuf) and other political parties. I think this is why they think it’s a one party decision,” she added.