With this election, Zanzibar could make history and end one-party rule

Violence, rigging and intimidation have marred the island’s politics, but the ruling party can no longer stifle the people’s desire for change 

Civic United Front supporters run from teargas during post-election violence in Stone Town, 2005. Photograph: Kim Ludbrook/EPA

Ismail Jussa

Ismail Jussa is director of international relations for the Civic United Front

Friday 23 October 2015 03.30 EDT

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Through June and July police and paramilitary units in Zanzibar unleashed a campaign of intimidation against opposition supporters as they tried to register to vote.
It went beyond verbal harassment and threats – potential voters were beaten and intimidated.
It was no coincidence that most of the human rights violations occurred in and around registration centres. Eye witnesses saw how anyone associated with the opposition became a potential target for harassment.
But for Zanzibaris this treatment is nothing new. Violence has been a feature of virtually all elections on the island since 1995. In 2000, more than 2,000 CUF supporters fled to Kenya after deadly clashes with police in which 35 people were killed and another 600 were injured. In 2005, the death toll was similar.
International observers have found instances of vote rigging, illegal voting and an overwhelming presence of security forces. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch condemned the excessive use of force by security personnel.
The exception was 2010, when a truce and reconciliation between the two main parties, ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) and CUF prevented a reoccurrence of election violence.
But this year the harassment of opposition voters has returned. After the registration process finished, the violence died down. But as the 25 October election date approaches, intimidation has been revived.

On Sunday, Zanzibaris ​will ​have ​a chance to set a new path for the island after 50 years of one-party rule

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Supporters of CUF make victory sign outside their headquarters in Zanzibar’s Stone Town in 2005 Photograph: Radu Sigheti/Reuters

Last week, masked men from paramilitary units attacked and beat up youths who were putting up opposition posters in Zanzibar town, according to recorded interviews with victims.

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Our fear is not only that violence is about to be unleashed wholesale if the election does not go the ruling party’s way, but that this could destabilise one of east Africa’s most vibrant and potentially prosperous communities.
Despite its small size, Zanzibar represents an important part of the east African landscape – and a gateway to the continent. Our island has lived through Portuguese occupation, colonialism under the Sultanate of Oman, a bloody revolution and finally a treaty with the mainland, Tanganyika, in April 1964 that established what is today the United Republic of Tanzania.
This union was supposed to allow for Zanzibar and its people to be semi-autonomous, with its own government and president. But more than 50 years later there is a growing discontent over the way this relationship has been administered by the mainland, at the expense of Zanzibar and its people’s will.
What was regarded as a partnership between two states has turned into a new form of colonisation, with the mainland effectively controlling from afar.
The CCM party on the mainland is the same as CCM in Zanzibar. Whatever is decided in Dodoma, Tanzania’s capital, is implemented on the island without any questions asked.
On Sunday, Zanzibaris have the chance to make history – to set a new path for the island and its people after 50 years of one-party rule.
On the mainland of Tanzania, the CCM, which has been in power since 1961 – the longest unbroken rule of any party in Africa – faces its most potent ever challenge from a coalition of four main opposition parties (the CUF being one of them). For the first time in 50 years there is the possibility of ending CCM’s one party rule.
On Zanzibar, if the CUF wins, it has committed to ensuring self-determination for Zanzibar and its people regardless of background, ideology and religious belief.
After a hugely significant and peaceful handover of power in Nigeria, Tanzanians and Zanzibaris also want to taste the fruits of democracy.