OAU tries to settle Zanzibar poll crisis

OAU tries to settle Zanzibar poll crisis

Zanzibar - Organisation of African Unity officials mediated between Zanzibar's two main political parties to try to resolve a post-election crisis. The OAU team, observers at last Sunday's first multi-party polls on the islands since 1964, were shuttling between the parties and the embattled electoral commission which has failed to announce the final result. Analysis of the partial results already released confirmed an almost 50-50 split between the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) and the opposition Civic United Front (CUF). Some private Tanzanian media have already declared CUF's Seif Sariff Hamad the winner of the islands' presidency, ending the CCM's 31-year monopoly of power. Reuter