Zanzibar\u2019s First Vice President, Othman Masoud Othman, left the United Kingdom on Wednesday for the United States as part of his international tour aimed at helping the world understand the political situation in Zanzibar and Tanzania ahead of the East African nation\u2019s elections later this year.<\/p>\n
During his tour of North America, Othman\u2014who also serves as the national chairperson of the opposition ACT Wazalendo and the party\u2019s candidate in Zanzibar\u2019s October presidential election\u2014is expected to visit Canada and hold talks with fellow leaders, as well as representatives of leading Canadian think tanks.<\/p>\n
While in the UK, Othman met with Professor Luis Franceschi, Assistant Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, at Marlborough House. There, he outlined his vision for Zanzibar\u2019s future\u2014one built on five key pillars: unwavering democratic values; good governance and uncompromising accountability; economic progress under the \u2018Singapore of Africa\u2019 vision; enhanced autonomy for Zanzibar within a just, equitable, and respectful Union; and national unity with enduring peace.<\/p>\n
A statement released on Wednesday indicated that Mr Othman raised concerns over a flawed voter registration process and an unconstitutional two-day voting arrangement\u2014a controversial practice in Zanzibar linked to allegations of vote rigging and even electoral violence.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn some situations, you can be fined for reporting cases of election fraud, and voters are turned away from registering to vote,\u201d he was quoted as saying. \u201cIt is the right of all citizens to have access to the voter registration list. We need to remove ghost voters from the voter registry and improve transparency in the Electoral Commission.\u201d<\/p>\n
READ MORE<\/strong>:\u00a0ACT Wazalendo\u2019s Othman Masoud Othman Takes Editors\u2019 Questions on His Bid to Run for Zanzibar\u2019s President in 2025 Elections<\/a><\/p>\n During the discussion, Prof Franceschi noted that while engagement with Zanzibar\u2019s electoral process is already underway, the Commonwealth Secretariat is awaiting an invitation from the mainland to further support democratic efforts across the region.<\/p>\n He said that he was committed to an ongoing dialogue with both Mr Othman and the government of Tanzania as Zanzibar\u2019s election draws nearer.<\/p>\n Mr Othman also met with Dr Alex Vines, OBE, Director of the Africa Programme, and Tighisti Amare, the incoming Director at Chatham House, for discussions on ensuring free and fair elections, good governance, and inclusive economic development in Zanzibar.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you look at Zanzibar and Mauritius, we have similar population sizes and geographic areas, yet Mauritius\u2019 GDP per capita is ten times larger than ours,\u201d the First VP pointed out. \u201cThis is something we urgently need to address. We must ensure that investment in Zanzibar leads to shared prosperity \u2013 where we all feel the benefits.\u201d<\/p>\n Chatham House reaffirmed its intention to increase its focus on Zanzibar specifically, within its broader engagement on Tanzania and the Union.<\/p>\n READ MORE<\/strong>:\u00a0ACT Wazalendo: Can Tanzania\u2019s Left-Leaning Party Overcome the Odds to Challenge CCM in 2025?<\/a><\/p>\n On June 17, Mr Othman met with Mehdi Hussain, acting Head of the East Africa Department at the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO). The Vice President and Mr Hussain spoke about the importance of free and fair elections.<\/p>\n \u201cZanzibar is fundamentally a service-based economy, and as a result, corruption is especially ruinous,\u201d Othman said. \u201cElections are not just a political event; their outcomes go to the heart of Zanzibar\u2019s development and the lives of its people.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr Hussain echoed the UK\u2019s strong interest in transparent democratic processes, noting significant investments in Zanzibar\u2019s roads and infrastructure and maintaining close ties with the islands, with over 42,000 British citizens visiting each year. He emphasised that ensuring a free, transparent and secure electoral process directly contributes to Zanzibar\u2019s continued development and prosperity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Zanzibar\u2019s First Vice President, Othman Masoud Othman, left the United Kingdom on Wednesday for the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":884,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,30,29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-882","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-africa","category-government","category-power"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/eandelmagazine.com\/eandelmagazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/gttakcuaqaardot.avif",0,0,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/eandelmagazine.com\/eandelmagazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/gttakcuaqaardot.avif",1,1,false],"medium":["https:\/\/eandelmagazine.com\/eandelmagazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/gttakcuaqaardot.avif",1,1,false],"medium_large":["https:\/\/eandelmagazine.com\/eandelmagazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/gttakcuaqaardot.avif",1,1,false],"large":["https:\/\/eandelmagazine.com\/eandelmagazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/gttakcuaqaardot.avif",1,1,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/eandelmagazine.com\/eandelmagazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/gttakcuaqaardot.avif",1,1,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/eandelmagazine.com\/eandelmagazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/gttakcuaqaardot.avif",1,1,false],"wpucv-grid-three":["https:\/\/eandelmagazine.com\/eandelmagazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/gttakcuaqaardot.avif",1,1,false],"wpucv-grid-two":["https:\/\/eandelmagazine.com\/eandelmagazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/gttakcuaqaardot.avif",1,1,false],"wpucv-grid-one":["https:\/\/eandelmagazine.com\/eandelmagazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/gttakcuaqaardot.avif",1,1,false],"wpucv-classic":["https:\/\/eandelmagazine.com\/eandelmagazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/gttakcuaqaardot.avif",1,1,false],"wpucv-classic-small":["https:\/\/eandelmagazine.com\/eandelmagazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/gttakcuaqaardot.avif",1,1,false],"wpucv-galary":["https:\/\/eandelmagazine.com\/eandelmagazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/gttakcuaqaardot.avif",1,1,false],"covernews-slider-full":["https:\/\/eandelmagazine.com\/eandelmagazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/gttakcuaqaardot.avif",1,1,false],"covernews-slider-center":["https:\/\/eandelmagazine.com\/eandelmagazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/gttakcuaqaardot.avif",1,1,false],"covernews-featured":["https:\/\/eandelmagazine.com\/eandelmagazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/gttakcuaqaardot.avif",1,1,false],"covernews-medium":["https:\/\/eandelmagazine.com\/eandelmagazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/gttakcuaqaardot.avif",1,1,false],"covernews-medium-square":["https:\/\/eandelmagazine.com\/eandelmagazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/gttakcuaqaardot.avif",1,1,false]},"author_info":{"info":["vicrollion"]},"category_info":"Africa<\/a> Government<\/a> Power<\/a>","tag_info":"Power","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eandelmagazine.com\/eandelmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/882","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eandelmagazine.com\/eandelmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eandelmagazine.com\/eandelmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eandelmagazine.com\/eandelmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eandelmagazine.com\/eandelmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=882"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/eandelmagazine.com\/eandelmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/882\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":883,"href":"https:\/\/eandelmagazine.com\/eandelmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/882\/revisions\/883"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eandelmagazine.com\/eandelmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/884"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eandelmagazine.com\/eandelmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=882"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eandelmagazine.com\/eandelmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=882"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eandelmagazine.com\/eandelmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=882"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}