Deadlocked Magic

It was election time, and Zanzibaris nervously barricaded themselves behind the huge brass-spiked doors installed in their houses long ago to withstand the battering of elephants. In the British island protectorate off the east coast of Africa, voting can be dangerous. The last Zanzibar election, two years ago, ended in bloody race riots with 68 killed. The violence was caused by a deadlock between the Nationalist Party, which is led by Zanzibar's land-owning Arab minority and the Afro-Shirazi Party, which claims to represent the interests of the African majority. Both parties won ten seats in the legislature, but the Nationalists took charge by making a deal with the three-seat People's Party.

This time, with Zanzibar choosing the government that will lead the protectorate to independence, the British took no chances. For the two-week voting and counting period, a full battalion of Scots Guards was flown in from Kenya. Spotter aircraft flew low over the clove plantations. Below, rural polling stations pegged white sheets to the ground as an all-well signal, kept red ones on hand in case of trouble. So great was popular enthusiasm for the election that on the nearby island of Pemba, known throughout Africa as the "Witchdoctors' University," leading practitioners were paid by both sides to cast their bones and influence the results.

Unfortunately, neither front seemed to possess the decisive magic. Though without bloodshed the result was essentially the same as last time: another deadlock. The Nationalists won one seat less than the Afro-Shirazis, but the People's Party's six seats were enough to keep the Nationalist coalition in control (18-13) of the expanded legislature.

When the outcome was announced outside Zanzibar's radio station, Afro-Shirazis broke into tears. But the situation was pleasing enough to Zanzibar's Arab Sultan, Seyyid Jamshid bin Abdulla, 31, a speedboat-loving playboy who came to the throne after his father's death three weeks ago. During the election campaign, the Afro-Shirazis hinted that if the African party won, his reign might be short. The worried Seyyid Jamshid was said to be ready to abdicate and earn a living running a motorboat service for tourists. With his allies of the Arab Nationalist Party still in control, the Sultan was spared that grim necessity. But the country at large is wondering what will happen between the two feuding factions when the British troops pull out. To preserve the peace then might be quite a job even for the witch doctors.

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