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ZEC throws out nomination petitions
2005-09-17 07:20:37
By Mwinyi Sadallah, Zanzibar
The Zanzibar Electoral Commission (ZEC) has dismissed five petitions filed against House of Representatives candidates.
ZEC official Saleh Mnemo said on Thursday that the appeals were thrown out after the commission concluded that the grounds raised by the petitioners were ’baseless’.
He said the petitions were filed by the ruling CCM and opposition parties CUF, Jahazi Asilia and Tadea.
CUF and Jahazi Asilia both lodged appeals against CCM’s candidate for the Amani House of Representatives seat, Ali Dege Makame.
The petitioners claimed that Dege had not stepped down from his civil service job when he was cleared by ZEC, contrary to electoral rules.
They said the candidate obtained a letter releasing him from duty after he was endorsed by the electoral body.
But ZEC said Dege had been granted leave without pay by his employer before he was cleared to vie for the seat in the October 30 election.
CUF had also challenged the candidacy of CCM’s Mshimba Makame Mbarouk, who has been cleared to run for the Kitope seat.
CUF claimed that Mbarouk’s nominations forms were not properly filled in and the CCM candidate had failed to provide some personal details.
The party said Mbarouk has not indicated the date on which he joined CCM and neither had he stated what he occupation was.
But ZEC threw out the petition, saying information provided by the candidate was ’more than enough’.
A petition filed by the Minister of Education, Culture and Sports, Haroun Ali Suleiman, against Jahazi Asilia’s Makunduchi candidate, Madai Ali Madai, has also been dismissed.
Suleiman claimed that the names of Madai’s guarantors were not in the party’s register in Unguja South Region, but ZEC said in its ruling that the CCM candidate had failed to substantiate the allegation.
The petition filed against CCM’s Kwahani candidate, Ali Suleiman Ali, by CUF’s Haji Amir Haji was also thrown out. Haji had claimed that Ali had presented a forged Form Four certificate to ZEC.
ZEC said it had established ’beyond any reasonable doubt’ that the certificate was genuine and that it had been awarded to Ali.
ZEC also dismissed petitions filed against three civic candidates, namely Marya Suleiman Haji and Rajab Jaffar Ussi of CCM and CUF’s Pandu Mohammed Pandu.
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