DAR ES SALAAM, Sept. 14 (Xinhuanet) -- Officials from Tanzania's main political parties and foreign diplomats are to gather in Zanzibar on Wednesday to discuss an accord between the Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) and Civic United Front (CUF).

    The CCM is the ruling party in the east African country while the CUF is the major opposition.

    Participants in the discussion also include Kgalema Motlante, secretary-general of the ruling South African party -- the AfricanNational Congress.

    The CCM and CUF reached a peace accord in 2001 after general elections. The accord demanded reforms in such fields as jurisdiction, police, other state organs, publicly-owned media institutions, and the Zanzibar Electoral Commission.

    Yet the CUF has been complaining about delays of stated reforms,citing as one example of delaying the postponement of voters register in Zanzibar that forms part of the United Republic of Tanzania and that is where the CUF has most support.

    The discussion is seen by local observers as a negotiating movein the tune-up toward next year's general elections.

    Multiparty politics was introduced in Tanzania in 1992 and one-party rule ended in 1995 with the country's first general elections in which the CCM won 85 percent of the ballots.

    The CCM won again in the 2000 general elections, still with thelion's share of votes among a dozen political groups. But the CUF challenged that there had been irregularities in the 2000 elections especially on the Indian Ocean archipelago where pro-CCMmainlanders were reportedly sent to vote against the CUF. Enditem