AfricaPress-Tanzania: CHANCES of ruling party, CCM winning the forthcoming General Election are high as a result of weaknesses in the opposition parties’ fielding aspirants, who are egocentric, African Alliance for Farmers Party (AAFP) presidential candidate for Zanzibar Mr Said Soud Said has declared.
“Chances for the opposition to win are very minimal. We are so divided and most of my colleagues in the opposition have put their personal interest ahead of everything… instead of being patriotic,” Mr Said added, while in Chakechake Pemba, where he is on a campaign trail.
He said because of ‘political greed and selfishness, some of the opposition parties are engaged in conflicts from within, while others defect from a party to another solely to grip to power, adding: “I am very confident that our weakness will benefit the ruling party as people still have trust in CCM.”
A veteran opposition politician Soud is running against 16 other candidates for Isles presidential post.
Others in the race include CCM’s candidate, Dr Hussein Mwinyi and his main challenger ACTWazalendo’s Maalim Seif Sharif Hamad.
Zanzibaris will elect a new president, MPs, House of Representatives and local councillors on October 28th this year.
Speaking in Mkoani, South Pemba, Mr Soud asked ‘wananchi’ to vote for him, MPs and House of Representatives from his party, and promised to form a government that will guarantee education and medical care to all people regardless of their political differences.
“Vote for me, MPs, House of Representatives and local councillors from my party so that I have a working team that will deliver to Zanzibaris during my regime,” Mr Soud said, while urging his colleagues in the opposition to avoid uttering statements that are likely to trigger violenc.
However, he warned that asking electorates not accept defeat or not to turn-out in big number to vote on election date is tantamount to instigating violence and unnecessarily looking for a clash with security forces, adding: “Zanzibar Electoral Commission-ZEC has clearly issued guidelines on how to vote on the voting day.”
