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Preparations for Isles elections in top gear
2005-09-24 08:25:05
By Issa Yussuf, Zanzibar
Zanznibar Electoral Commission (ZEC) said yesterday that it had imported more than 6,600 ballot boxes in readiness for the October 30 elections.
Addressing journalists attending a workshop on covering elections on Thursday in Zanzibar, the ZEC Deputy Information Officer, Saleh Mnemo, said the commission was putting requisite materials in place ahead of the polling day.
’’We already have standard ballot boxes for the elections. Other materials, including ballot papers, will be brought in at a later date,’’ Mnemo said.
He added that voting would begin at 7am instead of 8am because the polling day would coincide with the holy month of Ramadhan.
Mnemo said there would be 231 polling stations with each expected to handle an average of 350 voters.
He steered clear of journalists’ questions on why ZEC had not punished the Zanzibar state media for not giving equal air time to all parties.
Although ZEC has the powers to punish state media for biased reporting, the electoral body has not exercised it even where violation of the law is all too obvious.
On Thursday, election observers complained of bias and unbalanced coverage by the Zanzibar state media.
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