January 1961 Zanzibari general election

Last updated

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. [1]

The Afro-Shirazi Party (ASP) won ten seats, and the Zanzibar Nationalist Party (ZNP) won nine; the ASP won the constituency of Chake-Chake by just one vote, with 1,538 votes to the ZNP's 1,537. [2] The Guinness Book of World Records listed the result in its annual editions under "Closest election". [3]

As both the ASP and the ZNP attempted to form a government, two ZPPP members joined the ZNP and one the ASP. Due to the resulting stalemate, fresh elections were held in June. [4]

Results

PartyVotes%Seats+/–
Afro-Shirazi Party 36,69843.1910+5
Zanzibar Nationalist Party 32,72438.529+9
Zanzibar and Pemba People's Party 15,54118.293New
Total84,963100.0022+16
Registered voters/turnout94,310
Source: African Elections Database

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1998 Northern Ireland Assembly election</span>

The 1998 Northern Ireland Assembly election took place on Thursday, 25 June 1998. This was the first election to the new devolved Northern Ireland Assembly. Six members from each of Northern Ireland's eighteen Westminster Parliamentary constituencies were elected by single transferable vote, giving a total of 108 Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Flag of Tanzania</span> National flag

The flag of Tanzania consists of a Gold-edged black diagonal band, divided diagonally from the lower hoist-side corner, with a green upper triangle and light blue lower triangle. Adopted in 1964 to replace the individual flags of Tanganyika and Zanzibar, it has been the flag of the United Republic of Tanzania since the two states merged that year. The design of the present flag incorporates the elements from the two former flags. It is one of a relatively small number of national flags incorporating a diagonal line, with other examples including the DR Congo, Namibia, Trinidad and Tobago and Brunei.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mid Ulster (UK Parliament constituency)</span> Parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom, 1950 onwards

Mid Ulster is a parliamentary constituency in the UK House of Commons. The current MP is Francie Molloy of Sinn Féin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tanganyika African National Union</span> 1961–1977 ruling party of Tanganyika then Tanzania

The Tanganyika African National Union (TANU) was the principal political party in the struggle for sovereignty in the East African state of Tanganyika. The party was formed from the Tanganyika African Association by Julius Nyerere in July 1954 when he was teaching at St. Francis' College. From 1964 the party was called the Tanzania African National Union. In January 1977 the TANU merged with the ruling party in Zanzibar, the Afro-Shirazi Party (ASP), to form the current Revolutionary State Party or Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM). The policy of TANU was to build and maintain a socialist state aiming towards economic self-sufficiency and to eradicate corruption and exploitation, with the major means of production and exchange under the control of the peasants and workers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Afro-Shirazi Party</span> Political party in Tanzania

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elections in Togo</span> Political elections for public offices in Togo

Elections in Togo take place within the framework of a presidential system. Both the President and the National Assembly are directly elected by voters. Togo is a one party dominant state with the Union for the Republic in power.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abeid Karume</span> Tanzanian politician

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 and Pemba People's Party (ZPPP) was a nationalist, African-dominated political party in Zanzibar. The ZPPP, in a coalition with the Arab-dominated Zanzibar Nationalist Party (ZNP), governed the island from 1961 to 1964. The ZPPP was originally a breakaway of the ZNP formed by disaffected Shirazis. The party was the smallest of the three political parties on the islands. By forming an alliance with the ZNP in 1961 they pushed the ASP into opposition. Their politics were moderately conservative and did not bear any major grudges against the Arab elite, mainly due to their base in Pemba as opposed to Zanzibar.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zanzibar Revolution</span> 1964 overthrow of the Sultan of Zanzibar

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.

Aboud Jumbe Mwinyi was the second President of Zanzibar, serving from 1972 to 1984. He held several other positions, including Chairman of the Zanzibar Revolutionary Council, Vice-President of the Union of Tanzania, and the vice-chairman of the Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abdulrahman Mohamed Babu</span> Tanzanian politician

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">January 1961</span> Month of 1961

The following events occurred in January 1961:

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. They were also the first elections to be held in East Africa.

General elections were held in Zanzibar on 1 June 1961, following the inconclusive elections in January. One further constituency, Mtambile, was created on the island of Pemba, with the hope that this would break the deadlock. The Zanzibar Nationalist Party and the Afro-Shirazi Party both won ten seats, despite the fact that the ASP had received just over 50% of the votes and the ZNP only 35%. The other three seats were won by the Zanzibar and Pemba People's Party three. The ZNP and ZPPP formed a coalition government.

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%.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">People's Republic of Zanzibar</span> Republic in the Indian Ocean (January–April, 1964)

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Constitution of Tanzania</span> Supreme law of Tanzania

The Constitution of the United Republic of Tanzania, also known as the Permanent Constitution, was ratified in 16 March 1977. Before the current establishment, Tanzania has had three constitutions: the Independence Constitution (1961), the Republican Constitution (1962), and the Interim Constitution of the United Republic of Tanganyika and Zanzibar (1964).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chama Cha Mapinduzi</span> Dominant political party in Tanzania

The Chama Cha Mapinduzi is the dominant ruling party in Tanzania and the second longest-ruling party in Africa, only after the True Whig Party of Liberia. It was formed in 1977, following the merger of the Tanganyika African National Union (TANU) and the Afro-Shirazi Party (ASP), which were the sole operating parties in mainland Tanzania and the semi-autonomous islands of Zanzibar respectively.

References

  1. Dieter Nohlen, Michael Krennerich & Bernhard Thibaut (1999) Elections in Africa: A data handbook, p. 882 ISBN   0-19-829645-2
  2. "Afro-Shirazi Party Wins in Zanzibar", Africa Special Report (African-American Institute, 1961) p1951
  3. Mark Young, ed., The Guinness Book of World Records 1998 (Bantam Books, 1998) p228
  4. Zanzibar: 1961 Elections EISA