NAIROBI (Reuters) – A Tanzanian opposition party said on Sunday both its campaign manager and its parliamentary candidate in semi-autonomous Zanzibar had been abducted by unknown assailants days before elections are due on Oct. 28.
ACT-Wazalendo party said in statement the assailants attacked Nassor Mazrui, its Zanzibar campaign manager and the party’s deputy secretary general for the archipelago, as he left his house to go to his office in Zanzibar town.
“Upon leaving his home, his car was hit from behind and forcibly stopped whereupon assailants believed to be members of the Zanzibar Special Security Forces began to beat him,” the party said.
It said Abdalla Ali Abdalla, the party candidate for the House of Representative elections, was also abducted on Saturday, without giving further details.
Zanzibar police were not immediately available to comment.
Zanzibar and mainland Tanzania are due to hold elections for president, lawmakers and local governments on Wednesday. Zanzibar has previously been rocked by post-election violence in 2001, resulting in the death of more than 35 people.
Opposition parties have said in the lead up to the election, their candidates campaigns have been disrupted on several occasions, while dozens of parliamentary candidates were disqualified.
The government has previously denied clamping down on dissent.
(Writing by George Obulutsa; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky)
