ZANZIBAR (Reuters) - Rival supporters threw stones and fought each other outside several polling stations when voting began on Sunday in a volatile leadership election in Tanzania's Zanzibar islands. Reuters correspondents saw young opposition supporters hurl stones, kick and beat sympathisers of the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM or "Party of the Revolution" in Swahili) in the Stone Town area. Soldiers and riot police rushed to the scene. Opposition supporters accused the government of illegally busing people in from rural areas to boost its vote in Stone Town, a traditional stronghold of the Civic United Front (CUF) opposition. "They want to corrupt this election like they did the last one," opposition supporter Rashid Mohamed said as scuffles broke out around him. "We have already chased away 100 people who should not be voting in this area and we will continue to fight if they come." Past poll violence in the islands has sullied Tanzania's reputation as a model of stability in Africa. CCM, which rules Tanzania at national level as well as Zanzibar, says it represents stability and accuses the opposition of having a secret separatist agenda. But charging it was cheated of victory by fraud in 1995 and 2000, the opposition is confident this time it will break a government hegemony on semi-autonomous Zanzibar that dates back to an African revolt against Arab rule in 1964. The opposition says the government plans fraud, possibly through planned use of the army to move ballot materials. Tanzania had intended to hold a national election on the same day as Zanzibar, but the death of a senior opposition candidate for the vice-presidency forced its postponement, meaning attention is now squarely focused on the local poll. The islands joined mainland Tanganyika to form Tanzania in 1964 but retain their own parliament and local presidency. Incumbent President Amani Abeid Karume, son of Zanzibar's first post-independence leader, is being challenged by opposition leader Seif Sharif Hamad. Home to 1 million of Tanzania's 35 million people, Zanzibar is famous for its tourist and spice trades but remains one of the East African nation's poorest regions.
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