Friday, August 6, 2010

Zanzibar finally gets the Union Government


I was quite surprsied when i got the news,66.4 per cent of voters in Zanzibar are in favor of the formation of a government of national unity.188,705 people gave an emphatic Yes in the referendum against 95,613 or 33.6 per cent of those who voted No, to emerge victorious in the exercise that will significantly alter the history and politics of Zanzibar.In total, 293,039 (71.9 per cent) of the voters turned out to take part but the number fell short by 28.1 per cent of the total registered number of 407,669 people. There were 8,721 (3 per cent) spoilt votes.

The results were announced yesterday at Bwawani centre in Zanzibar town by the Zanzibar Electoral Commission (ZEC) Chairman Mr Khatib Mwinyichande.
"I want to officially declare here today that in the referendum held in Zanzibar the public that voted Yes have won," said Mr Mwinyichande to send a sizeable crowd patiently waiting into a frenzy. They chanted "ndiyo, ndiyo, ndiyo" in reference to the Kiswahili version of the Yes vote.
I'm hearing there were scenes of celebrations in parts of the town as people celebrated in the street as the news spread.A crowded street in Zanzibar's capital, Stone Town.Zanzibar will now be expected to amend its Constitution and include an article which allow the formation of a government of national unity. This quite a big move, I'm gonna have to sit on the sideline..and watch....

The  government of national unity would be formed after the General Election scheduled for October 31, which would include a President from the winning party, first vice president from the party that would emerge in the second position and second vice president from the wining party.

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