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DAR ES SALAAM (Reuters) - The opposition in Zanzibar has asked the president of the semi-autonomous islands to stay on when his mandate expires in October, an unexpected shift that fueled speculation the rivals have struck a power-sharing deal.

Zanzibar has suffered bouts of political violence since a disputed poll in 2000 put the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party in office. But hopes of a deal between the once bitter foes to end a decade of deadlock have been growing.

Zanzibar joined mainland Tanganyika in 1964 to form Tanzania and has its own president and parliament. Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete has described the archipelago as the "Achilles' heel" of the otherwise peaceful country of 40 million people.

Seif Sharif Hamad, the leader of Zanzibar's opposition Civic United Front (CUF) party and an unsuccessful presidential candidate in 2000 and 2005, urged President Amani Karume last week to stay in power.

"I know that he has already declared he doesn't want to stay in office at the end of his second term. But I urge him to heed calls from the wider Zanzibar public for him to extend his term," Hamad said in a public lecture late on Thursday.

"I call for the postponement of the poll for a year or two until conditions on the ground are improved to pave the way for legitimate elections," he said.

The opposition initially refused to recognise Karume because of allegations that vote-rigging in the mainly Muslim islands of 1 million people had twice robbed it of victory.