Zanzibar: Voter registration

Updated November 2010

Extracted from: Grant Masterson 2009 "Chapter 13: Tanzania and Zanzibar" IN Denis Kadima and Susan Booysen (eds) Compendium of Elections in Southern Africa 1989-2009: 20 Years of Multiparty Democracy, EISA, Johannesburg, 524.

Registration of voters in Zanzibar is governed by the Elections Act, Section 8 (this Act has been amended several times in 2000, 2002 and 2004. Commonwealth Observer Group 2005, 14). During the 1995 registration period, which ran from 6 August 1995 to 4 September 1995, the ZEC experienced shortages of registration forms and materials, as well as challenges of staff training for the 1995 elections. The fact that there was no national identification system in Zanzibar for the 1995 or 2000 elections meant that the process of identifying who was eligible to register to vote in a constituency was complicated considerably. The registration clerks appointed by the ZEC were forced to rely on the assistance of community leaders known as shehas to identify persons known to the sheha as eligible to register to vote. These shehas had no legal status during the elections, apart from that afforded to them by the returning officers. During the 2000 elections, registration was conducted from the 8 August - 21 August 2000. As a result of the violence which occurred in early 2001, the CCM and CUF political parties agreed to a series of reforms to the electoral process known as the Muafaka II Accord, including the requirement that a permanent voters' register should be established for the 2005 elections. The establishment of the PVR in Zanzibar took place between 29 November 2004 and 26 April 2005, with the role of the sheha limited to that of an ex-officio registration officer for the 2005 elections. However, despite this limitation, several observer groups who observed the registration process noted reports of the interference of shehas in the registration process, in particular the usurping of the registration officers' authority to register a person (Commonwealth Observer Group 2005, 16).

2010 Addendum

The voters' roll was updated twice after the 2005 election and 407 658 voters were eligible to vote for the 2010 Zanzibari elections (ZEC 2010). The Tanzania Election Monitoring Committee (TEMCO, 2010, 2) monitored the ZEC's preparations for the 2010 constitutional referendum including the registration of voters and the update and publication of the voters' rolls and observed a marked improvement in every way on the 2005 elections. Their report did, however, point to shortcomings in the issue of Zanzibari identity documents that left some voters unable to register, specifically (TEMCO, 2010, 2):

Some Shehas discretionally and illegitimately refused to provide application forms to potential voters to enable them to obtain ZAN IDs;
That there were those who had no birth certificates (targisi) and the process of obtaining them cost time and a significant amount of money - including the costs of transport because applicants were put in a "go and return again" mill...
That those born in 1963 or earlier faced the requirement of obtaining a legitimate ZAN ID by obtaining affidavits in a court of law, which also had high costs in terms of financial expenses, time and cumbersome bureaucratic procedures.

Registration observer reports

TANZANIA ELECTION MONITORING COMMITTEE 2010 "Interim Statement on the Referendum held in Zanzibar on 31st July, 2010", 1 August, [www] http://www.tz.undp.org/ESP/docs/Observer_Reports/TEMCO_INTERIM_STATEMENT_ON_ZANZIBAR_REFERENDUM.pdf [PDF document, opens new window] (accessed 11 Nov 2010).

INTERNATIONAL LAW AND POLICY INSTITUTE 2010:

"The process of voter registration in Zanzibar: Observations and Assessments", 20 May, [www] http://www.ilpi.org/ILPI/Documents_files/31_Voter-registration_Overall-Summary-report.pdf [PDF document, opens new window] (accessed 16 Nov 2010).
"The Voter Display and Dispute Process: The Final Step in the PVR Process", 27 June, [www] http://www.ilpi.org/ILPI/Documents_files/33_Display-Dispute-process.pdf [PDF document, opens new window] (accessed 16 Nov 2010).
"Come and get them! The Distribution of Voter Cards in Zanzibar", 6 July, [www] http://www.ilpi.org/ILPI/Documents_files/34_Voter-card_distribution.pdf [PDF document, opens new window] (accessed 16 Nov 2010).

Reference

COMMONWEALTH OBSERVER GROUP 2005 Report of the Commonwealth Observer Group: The Elections In Zanzibar, United Republic of Tanzania, 30 October.

ZANZIBAR ELECTORAL COMMISSION (ZEC) 2010 "Briefing for International and Local Observers", 28 October, Media, Observers and Results Centre, Bwawani Hotel, Zanzibar.