The 2020 Citizen Election Observation in Zanzibar

The Zanzibar Electoral Commission (ZEC) accredited JUWAUZA to observe the 2020 Zanzibar General elections as a local independent citizen-based, non-partisan and impartial observation group. The JUWAUZA specific mission was to assess whether the Gender and Social Inclusion Policy of 2015 was observed and determine the extent to which the elections were peaceful and inclusive. Referring to Section 4.3 of the Gender and Social Inclusion Policy of 2015 which set forth on “Prevention and Mitigation of Electoral Violence”, JUWAUZA saw the urge to play an increasingly visible role in the electoral process to consolidate the ongoing democratic gains, to see if there was electoral violence and understanding its merging due to inhibiting factor for free and effective participation of social groups in the electoral process. JUWAUZA’s first election observation effort was made possible with the support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) through the National Democratic Institute (NDI) which provided financial and technical assistance where a total of $ 179,092 was invested to support this citizen election observation.