Tanzanians head to the polls on Wednesday in a general election widely expected to hand President Samia Suluhu Hassan a second term, after the country’s two main opposition parties were barred from fielding candidates.
Voters will cast ballots for the presidency, members of the 400-seat National Assembly, and for the president and lawmakers of the semi-autonomous Zanzibar archipelago. Polls open at 0400 GMT and close at 1300 GMT, with results expected within three days, according to the National Electoral Commission.
The presidential race has been effectively reduced to a one-sided contest after the exclusion of the leading opposition party, CHADEMA, whose leader Tundu Lissu is on trial for treason, charges he denies.
The electoral commission disqualified CHADEMA in April after it refused to sign an electoral code of conduct. The ACT-Wazalendo party’s candidate, Luhaga Mpina, was also barred following an objection by the Attorney General, leaving only minor-party contenders to challenge Hassan.
Hassan’s ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party, which traces its roots to Tanzania’s independence movement in the 1950s, has dominated national politics since its founding in 1977.
The U.S.-based Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED) described CCM as intent on maintaining its position as the “last hegemonic liberation party in southern Africa,” unlike its counterparts in South Africa, Namibia, and Zimbabwe, which have faced growing electoral pressure.
Hassan, who became president in 2021 following the death of her predecessor John Magufuli, has campaigned across the country of about 68 million people, touting her record on infrastructure, power generation, and education.
She has pledged that a second term would focus on hiring more teachers and expanding access to schools.
While Hassan initially won praise for easing political repression and media censorship that intensified under Magufuli, rights groups say that progress has stalled.
Amnesty International and other organizations have accused her government of suppressing dissent, citing unexplained abductions and harassment of opposition figures.
“Authorities must end their unacceptable campaign of repression against dissent,” Amnesty said in an October 20 statement. The government rejected the criticism, with spokesperson Gerson Msigwa saying the report’s portrayal of Tanzania was “inconsistent with the legal and institutional safeguards in place.”
Hassan, one of only two female heads of state in Africa, has maintained that her administration respects human rights. Last year, she ordered an investigation into alleged abductions, though no findings have been made public.
Earlier this month, the family of Tanzania’s former ambassador to Cuba, now a government critic, said he was abducted by unknown assailants, prompting a police investigation.
Despite such controversies, analysts say Hassan’s re-election appears all but certain, underscoring the enduring dominance of the CCM and the challenges facing Tanzania’s fragmented and constrained opposition movement.
Source: Reuters
Written By Rodney Mbua
