Seif alleges ‘ghost voters’, ZEC scoffs at claim

Dar es Salaam. ACT Wazalendo’s Zanzibar presidential candidate, Mr Seif Sharif Hamad, yesterday accused the Zanzibar Electoral Commission (ZEC) of irregularly increasing the number of voters in the isles by 117,830.

He said the party’s investigations have established that the vast majority were “ghost voters”.

But ZEC swiftly dismissed Mr Hamad’s claims, saying the voter register was being updated since 2016, and that all political stakeholders in Zanzibar have always had an opportunity to scrutinise the list.

“The enrollment of voters is done according to the Electoral Act No.4 of 2018, which gives ZEC the mandate to establish the Permanent Voter Register. The law requires us to reopen the register on the 20th day after elections, and anyone has the right to view it,” ZEC official Baraka Sunni told The Citizen yesterday.

He said ZEC collects the updates from district enrollment officers, and the names of ineligible voters are deleted, but the voter register must be open for people to view.

Mr Sunni added that the ZEC also schedules the days for people to inspect the register to see whether or not the listed individuals are eligible.

Registration of new voters is also organised by ZEC, which announces dates and locations.

Before being listed in the voter register, the names of new voters are displayed to the public.

The procedure, he said, was followed in the run-up to the 2010 and 2015 elections, adding that the law has not changed.

“Every person has the right to ask for and be given the voter register for scrutiny,” Mr Sunni noted.

Speaking in Dar es Salaam earlier, Mr Hamad said that the party’s findings show that there were 448,533 eligible voters in Zanzibar, but the voter register contains 565,363 names.

“ZEC has denied more than 50,000 eligible people registration, but has registered ghost voters to prop up the ruling party,” he said.

This was part of a “wider plot by ZEC and its accomplices to rig the elections in CCM’s favour”, the ACT-Wazalendo candidate said.

Mr Hamad further said that other measures meant to undermine the opposition party include mass disqualification of its candidates, early voting by ZEC officials and members of security organs, intimidation of ACT-Wazalendo supporters and leaders, forcing public servants to vote for the ruling party, using security officers as returning officers and the plan to announce presidential election results “in the dead of night”.

In another development, ACT-Wazalendo said it would to continue to support Chadema Union presidential candidate Tundu Lisu, saying he was better placed to defeat CCM’s John Magufuli than the party’s own candidate, Mr Bernard Membe.

Mr Hamad, who is also ACT-Wazalendo chairman, said the decision to support Mr Lissu was made by the party’s congress.

Mr Membe said on Monday that he was still in the race, and expected to resume his campaign yesterday.

Mr Hamad said Mr Membe’s position was contrary to the party’s official line.

“Membe attended the meeting, and agreed in principle that we should support the Chadema candidate.

“Before joining ACT-Wazalendo, Membe was aware that the party may join forces with other political parties, and he agreed,” Mr Hamad said.

He added that ACT-Wazalendo’s main goal was to see CCM out of power, and that it was not important which party would succeed it.

“It’s not that we don’t like Membe, but the fact is that he is not strong enough to stand against Magufuli. Even if he decides to resume his campaigns, we, as ACT-Wazalendo, will still support Lissu,” Mr Hamad noted.

He said Mr Membe had been “very quiet” during the campaign period to the extent that he had been forgotten by voters.