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- Sep 24, 2010
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Judge calls for review of Union,Zanzibar election: THE CITIZEN Send to a friend Friday, 24 September 2010 08:37 diggdigg
By Florence Mugarula
Citizen Reporter
Dar es Salaam. The National Electoral Commission Vice chairman, Judge Omar Makungu has said that there was a legal contradiction over the way Union and Zanzibar elections are conducted.
Judge Makungu said that the Zanzibar Electoral Commission (ZEC) was formed under a different law with the NEC and that there was a problem on making sure that two are operating at the same time.
Judge Makungu was addressing resident magistrates from different regions during the three days seminar on legal challenges ahead the coming general elections.
He said due to the presence of two commissions, Zanzibar people were forced to vote for their representatives through ZEC and Union President through NEC.
There is a big operational problem in the isle when it comes to NEC and ZEC, and it is very difficult to separate these two because they depend on each other, said Judge Makungu.
According to Judge Makungu, it was risk to conduct elections in Zanzibar and Tanzania Mainland in the same day because if there would be a problem within ZEC, there would be no valid election results for Union president from Zanzibar as well.
Citing one example, he said while ZEC has registered at least 440,125 voters in Zanzibar, NEC has a list of 407,000 voters from the isles.
To address this problems, Judge Makungu said the two bodies should be given full authority to plan for election, including its timetable and if possible separating election days.
Otherwise, he said NEC should have power and control over ZEC to avoid unnecessary contradiction in decision making.
Mr Makungu said among the challenging issues which NEC has been facing in recent years in increased pressure to have new constitution.
Another challenge was to reform the Commission and make it more independent by removing powers of the President over nomination of Commission boss.
But he said NEC officers were impartial as they take oath before starting their job and that most of them were lawyers who adhere to the code of conducts and professionalism.
By Florence Mugarula
Citizen Reporter
Dar es Salaam. The National Electoral Commission Vice chairman, Judge Omar Makungu has said that there was a legal contradiction over the way Union and Zanzibar elections are conducted.
Judge Makungu said that the Zanzibar Electoral Commission (ZEC) was formed under a different law with the NEC and that there was a problem on making sure that two are operating at the same time.
Judge Makungu was addressing resident magistrates from different regions during the three days seminar on legal challenges ahead the coming general elections.
He said due to the presence of two commissions, Zanzibar people were forced to vote for their representatives through ZEC and Union President through NEC.
There is a big operational problem in the isle when it comes to NEC and ZEC, and it is very difficult to separate these two because they depend on each other, said Judge Makungu.
According to Judge Makungu, it was risk to conduct elections in Zanzibar and Tanzania Mainland in the same day because if there would be a problem within ZEC, there would be no valid election results for Union president from Zanzibar as well.
Citing one example, he said while ZEC has registered at least 440,125 voters in Zanzibar, NEC has a list of 407,000 voters from the isles.
To address this problems, Judge Makungu said the two bodies should be given full authority to plan for election, including its timetable and if possible separating election days.
Otherwise, he said NEC should have power and control over ZEC to avoid unnecessary contradiction in decision making.
Mr Makungu said among the challenging issues which NEC has been facing in recent years in increased pressure to have new constitution.
Another challenge was to reform the Commission and make it more independent by removing powers of the President over nomination of Commission boss.
But he said NEC officers were impartial as they take oath before starting their job and that most of them were lawyers who adhere to the code of conducts and professionalism.
