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Isles polls : Law leaves much to be desired
2005-08-17 08:26:52
By Karegero Karegero
Tanzania goes to polls for the general and parliamentary elections in the two months time from now.
At any rate, the holding of elections though a social matter it is in essence a legal issue of which procedural
and substantive requirements need to be observed not only in the preparation but also in the course of holding the same.
But by the look of things, an intriguing legal question haunts Zanzibar: The election takes place while the Zanzibar Election Act of 1984 is all silent on where some Zanzibar contestants for the Union Parliament or House of Representatives doubling portfolios as, say, ministers in the Union government should register themselves as voters.
The law would have stated this point blankly to remove doubts held by people.
The silence of the law becomes an issue when one considers a scenario where precisely, a Zanzibar member of the House of Representatives who doubles as, say, a minister in the Union government should register as a voter:
Should he or she register in Dar es Salaam where she has all the way long pursued the required ministerial duties or in a constituency in Zanzibar where he was previously elected or where he or she hails?
That problem aside, the crux of the matter that still leaves much to desire is when this situation is translated in the light of the requirements of yet another piece of legislation, the Zanzibar Residents Act which is also in force. For the spirit of the latter law runs counter to the provisions of the Elections Act.
Under the Zanzibar Election Act, No.11 of 1984 a person who qualifies to register as a voter must be one who has lived in Zanzibar for a consecutive three year period. That is the provision of the law.
But Zanzibar Union ministers have been living and do live in Dar es Salaam , away from Zanzibar in the course of pursuing their ministerial duties, hence they may as well be said they have not been living in Zanzibar for the entire five year or even ten years period, depending on how long one has been living in Dar es Salaam.
In the circumstances, the law leaves much to be desired.
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