Zanzibar – The Zanzibar Electoral Commission (ZEC) has announced its intention to destroy all documents from the October 2025 general election, a move that has been met with fierce opposition and accusations of a cover-up.
The opposition party, ACT Wazalendo, which is challenging the results in 25 of the 50 constituencies, has condemned the decision as a criminal act designed to eliminate evidence of widespread irregularities.
The election, held on October 28 and 29, 2025, saw the incumbent President of Zanzibar, Dr Hussein Ali Mwinyi of the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party, re-elected with 74.8 per cent of the vote.
His main rival, Othman Masoud Othman of ACT Wazalendo, garnered 23.22 per cent of the vote. The election was marked by a high voter turnout of 84.88 per cent.
In the elections for the Zanzibar House of Representatives, the CCM party secured a significant majority, winning 40 out of the 50 constituencies.
Despite the loss, ACT Wazalendo obtained enough votes entitling it to participate in the Government of National Unity, a constitutional arrangement in Zanzibar that allows for power-sharing with opposition parties that secure at least 10 per cent of the vote.
However, the opposition has maintained that the election was not free and fair, leading to the legal challenges that are now at the centre of the document destruction controversy, as well as its decision not to join the Government of National Unity, decrying the lack of will for reforms on the part of CCM and its government.
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The ZEC chairperson, Judge George Kazi, defended the decision, stating that the commission is legally obligated to destroy the election materials 90 days after the election, as stipulated by Section 98(3) of the Election Act No. 4 of 2018.
He confirmed that the 90-day period had lapsed on January 29, 2026, and that no court injunction had been issued to prevent the destruction.
“We have committed no wrongdoing nor violated the law,” Judge Kazi stated in a press conference on February 3, 2026. “Failing to act would have made us the ones acting against the law.”
However, ACT Wazalendo has accused the ZEC of acting in bad faith. The party’s deputy chairperson for Zanzibar, Ismail Jussa, argued that destroying evidence while legal challenges are ongoing constitutes spoliation of evidence, a serious legal offence.
“For an electoral commission that itself used these documents in its defence and knows how necessary they are for ongoing court cases, invoking the cited section under these circumstances is to misuse the law with the intent to destroy evidence,” Mr Jussa said.
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The party claims that their legal challenges have been deliberately stalled in the courts to allow the ZEC to proceed with the destruction of the documents.
The controversy is further fuelled by the fact that this is the first time the ZEC has moved to destroy election materials so soon after an election. In previous elections, from 1995 to 2020, the documents were preserved for a longer period.
The decision comes at a time of heightened political tension in Zanzibar, following a contentious election that the opposition claims was marred by fraud and irregularities.
Jussa, a lawyer by profession, told a press conference that the destruction of election documents in the midst of legal challenges raises serious questions about the transparency and fairness of the electoral process in Zanzibar.
He has warned that the destruction of evidence can have severe consequences, including criminal charges for obstruction of justice.
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The High Court of Zanzibar has recently added another layer of complexity to the situation by declining jurisdiction over the opposition’s election petitions, ruling that they must be heard on the mainland.
This decision has been met with criticism from the opposition, who argue that it is a further attempt to deny them access to justice.
