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 Tanzaniaportal |
General elections for the Legislative Council were held in Zanzibar for the first time in July 1957. It was largely a contest between the Afro-Shirazi Union and the Zanzibar Nationalist Party, with the ASU and its supporters winning five of the six contested seats. [1] They were also the first elections to be held in East Africa. [2]
In 1926 the British colonial authorities introduced Legislative and Executive Councils to the islands, preventing the Sultan from legislating without their consent. [2] In 1954 the number of members of the Council was expanded to 12. Two years later the British authorities appointed Walter Coutts to advise the government on how to obtain public representation on the Council, albeit as "unofficial" members. [2] Coutts' report suggested election of six members based on a list system, with candidates limited to property owners, people over 40, and those with a specific level of education, and that voters should meet the property criteria. This proposal meant that only 14% of the islands' population were eligible to vote. [2]
The main parties were the Zanzibar Nationalist Party, which had been established in December 1955, and the Afro-Shirazi Union, founded in February 1957 by a merger of the African Association (founded in 1934) and the Shirazi Association (1938), [3] whilst the Indian-dominated Muslim Association also competed.
The election was characterised by significant interest, and voter turnout was 90.2%. [4]
| Party | Votes | % | Seats | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Afro-Shirazi Union | 13,052 | 36.91 | 3 | |
| Independents (Shirazi Association) | 9,237 | 26.12 | 2 | |
| Zanzibar Nationalist Party | 7,761 | 21.95 | 0 | |
| Independents (Zanzibar Nationalist Party) | 3,221 | 9.11 | 0 | |
| Independents (Muslim Association) | 519 | 1.47 | 1 | |
| Independents (Afro-Shirazi Union) | 392 | 1.11 | 0 | |
| Independents (Comorian Association) | 55 | 0.16 | 0 | |
| Independents | 1,124 | 3.18 | 0 | |
| Total | 35,361 | 100.00 | 6 | |
| Valid votes | 35,361 | 98.28 | ||
| Invalid/blank votes | 619 | 1.72 | ||
| Total votes | 35,980 | 100.00 | ||
| Registered voters/turnout | 39,873 | 90.24 | ||
| Source: Lofchie, Nohlen et al. | ||||
| Constituency | Candidate | Party | Supported by | Votes | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ngambo | Abeid Karume | Afro-Shirazi Union | Afro-Shirazi Union | 3,328 | Elected |
| Ali Muhsin Barwani | Zanzibar Nationalist Party | Zanzibar Nationalist Party | 918 | ||
| Ibuni Saleh | Independent | Comorian Association | 55 | ||
| Pemba North | Ali Sharif Mussa | Independent | Shirazi Association | 3,386 | Elected |
| Rashid Hamadi Athumani | Zanzibar Nationalist Party | Zanzibar Nationalist Party | 3,182 | ||
| Shaaban Sudi Mponda | Afro-Shirazi Union | African Association | 657 | ||
| Pemba South | Muhammad Shamte Hamadi | Independent | Shirazi Association | 5,851 | Elected |
| Rashid Ali el-Khaify | Zanzibar Nationalist Party | Zanzibar Nationalist Party | 1,488 | ||
| Abdulla Seuleiman Ali Busaidy | Independent | – | 1,075 | ||
| Stone Town | Sher Mohammed Chowdhary | Independent | Muslim Association | 519 | Elected |
| Rutti A. Bulsara | Zanzibar Nationalist Party | Zanzibar Nationalist Party | 494 | ||
| Anverali Hassan Virji | Independent | Afro-Shirazi Union | 392 | ||
| Abdul Qadir Mukri | Independent | – | 49 | ||
| Zanzibar North | Daud Mahmoud | Afro-Shirazi Union | Afro-Shirazi Union | 3,687 | Elected |
| Haji Mohammed Juma | Independent | Zanzibar Nationalist Party | 3,221 | ||
| Zanzibar South | Ameri Tajo | Afro-Shirazi Union | Afro-Shirazi Union | 5,380 | Elected |
| Amour Zahor Said | Zanzibar Nationalist Party | Zanzibar Nationalist Party | 1,679 | ||
| Source: Lofchie | |||||
Following the election, both the ZNP and ASU experienced infighting, resulting in some ASU members leaving to establish the Zanzibar and Pemba People's Party in 1959, and some ZNP members leaving to form the Umma Party in 1963. [3]
In 1960 Sir Hilary Blood was appointed Constitutional Commissioner by the British authorities, with the remit to advise the government on constitutional development in Zanzibar. His proposals included making the leader of the party with the most seats Chief Minister, for ministerial portfolios to be created, for the Council to have 22 constituency-based seats, that electoral qualifications should be abolished, and that women should have the right to vote. [1]
The British government accepted Blood's proposals, and fresh elections were held in January 1961.
The Afro-Shirazi Party (ASP) was a Socialist, African nationalist Zanzibari political party formed between the mostly Shirazi Shiraz Party and the mostly African Afro Party.
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Abeid Amani Karume was the first President of Zanzibar. He obtained this title as a result of a revolution which led to the deposing of Sir Jamshid bin Abdullah, the last reigning Sultan of Zanzibar, in January 1964. Three months later, the United Republic of Tanzania was founded, and Karume became the first Vice President of the United Republic with Julius Nyerere of Tanganyika as president of the new country. He was the father of Zanzibar's former president, Amani Abeid Karume.
The Zanzibar Revolution began on 12 January 1964 and led to the overthrow of the Sultan of Zanzibar and his mainly Arab government by the island's majority Black African population.
John Gideon Okello was a Ugandan revolutionary and the leader of the Zanzibar Revolution in 1964. This revolution overthrew Sultan Jamshid bin Abdullah and led to the proclamation of Zanzibar as a republic.
The Sultanate of Zanzibar, also known as the Zanzibar Sultanate, was an East African Muslim state controlled by the Sultan of Zanzibar, in place between 1856 and 1964. The Sultanate's territories varied over time, and after a period of decline, the state had sovereignty over only the Zanzibar Archipelago and a 16-kilometre-wide (10 mi) strip along the Kenyan coast, with the interior of Kenya constituting the British Kenya Colony and the coastal strip administered as a de facto part of that colony.
Abdulrahman Mohamed Babu was a Zanzibar-born Marxist and pan-Africanist nationalist who played an important role in the 1964 Zanzibar Revolution and served as a minister under Julius Nyerere after the island was merged with mainland Tanganyika to form Tanzania. He was jailed by Nyerere from 1972 and, after his release following an international campaign, remained a vocal critic of imperialism, authoritarian states and excessively statist development models.
United Tanganyika Party (UTP) was a political party in Tanganyika. It was established by the British governor Edward Twining in 1956 as a counter to the Tanganyika African National Union (TANU), an African nationalist party led by Julius Nyerere. The UTP was a multi-racial party that included all of the white members of the Legislative Council as well as a majority of the Asian members and around half of the black African members. Twining did not intend that the UTP would defeat TANU in elections, which he considered impossible, but that it should be used as a tool to pressure Nyerere into an agreement over independence. The UTP argued against independence at the United Nations.
General elections were held in Zanzibar on 17 January 1961 for the Legislative Council. The result saw the Afro-Shirazi Party win ten seats, the Zanzibar Nationalist Party nine, and the Zanzibar and Pemba People's Party three.
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General elections were held in Zanzibar in July 1963. The number of seats was increased from 22 to 31, and the result was a victory for the Zanzibar Nationalist Party and Zanzibar and Pemba People's Party alliance, which won 18 seats, despite the fact that the Afro-Shirazi Party, which had won 13, claimed 54.2% of the vote. Voter turnout was estimated to be 99.1%.
The People's Republic of Zanzibar was a short-lived African state founded in 1964, consisting of the islands of the Zanzibar Archipelago. It existed for less than a year before it merged with Tanganyika to create the United Republic of Tanganyika and Zanzibar, which would be renamed to Tanzania in October of that year.
General elections were held for the first time in the newly formed Union of Tanzania in September 1965. The country had also just become a one-party state, with the Tanganyika African National Union as the sole legal party on the mainland, and the Afro-Shirazi Party was the only party in Zanzibar. For the National Assembly election there were two candidates from the same party in each constituency, whilst the presidential election was effectively a referendum on TANU leader Julius Nyerere's candidacy.
General elections were held in Tanzania on 26 October 1975. The country was a one-party state at the time, with the Tanganyika African National Union as the sole legal party on the mainland, and the Afro-Shirazi Party was the only party in Zanzibar. For the National Assembly election there were two candidates from the same party in each of the constituencies, whilst the presidential election was effectively a referendum on TANU leader Julius Nyerere's candidacy.
General elections were held in Tanzania on 26 October 1980. The country was a one-party state at the time, with the Chama Cha Mapinduzi as the sole legal party, following the 1977 merger of the mainland-based Tanganyika African National Union and the Zanzibar-based Afro-Shirazi Party, which had previously operated as the sole legal parties in their areas. For the National Assembly election there were two candidates from the same party in each of the 106 constituencies, whilst the presidential election was effectively a referendum on CCM leader Julius Nyerere's candidacy.
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Zanzibari independence is a political ambition of some political parties, advocacy groups, and individuals of Zanzibar, a semi-autonomous region territory within Tanzania, to become an independent sovereign state.
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