Tanzania elections: Who’s standing and what’s at stake?

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Voters successful Tanzania are heading to polling booths connected Wednesday to ballot for a caller president, arsenic good arsenic members of parliament and councillors, successful elections which are expected to proceed the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) – oregon Party of Revolution’s – 64-year-long grip connected power.

Despite a bevy of candidates successful the lineup, incumbent President Samia Suluhu Hassan, analysts say, is virtually unchallenged and volition astir surely win, pursuing what rights groups accidental has been a dense crackdown connected fashionable absorption members, activists and journalists.

What are radical voting for and however volition the elections beryllium decided?

Voters are choosing a president, parliament members and section councillors for the 29 regions successful mainland Tanzania. A president and parliament members volition besides beryllium elected successful the autonomous land of Zanzibar.

Winners are elected by plurality oregon elemental bulk ballot – the campaigner with the astir votes wins.

Authorities declared that Wednesday would beryllium a nationalist vacation to let radical to vote, portion aboriginal voting began successful Zanzibar connected Tuesday.

How galore radical are voting?

More than 37 cardinal of the 60 cardinal colonisation are registered to vote. To vote, you indispensable beryllium a national aged 18 oregon over.

Voter turnout successful the past wide elections successful 2020 was conscionable 50.72 percent, however, according to the International Foundation for Electoral Systems.

Who is President Samia Suluhu Hassan and wherefore is she regarded arsenic a shoe-in?

Formerly the country’s vice president, Hassan, 65, automatically ascended to the presumption of president pursuing the decease of erstwhile President John Magufuli successful March 2021, to service retired the remainder of his term.

Hassan is presently 1 of lone 2 African pistillate leaders, the different being Namibia’s Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah. She is the sixth president and the archetypal pistillate person of her country. She was antecedently curate of commercialized for Zanzibar, wherever she is from.

This volition beryllium Hassan’s archetypal effort astatine the ballot, and the predetermination was expected to beryllium a trial of however Tanzanians presumption her enactment truthful far. However, analysts accidental the information that her 2 strongest challengers person been barred from the polls means the president is moving with virtually nary competition.

After taking bureau successful 2021, Hassan instantly began reversing arguable policies implemented by Magafuli, an isolationist person who denied that COVID-19 existed and refused to contented policies regarding quarantines oregon vaccines.

Under Hassan, Tanzania joined the planetary COVAX facility, directed by institutions similar the World Health Organization, to assistance administer vaccines to processing countries, particularly successful Africa.

Hassan besides struck a reconciliatory code with absorption leaders by lifting a six-year prohibition connected governmental rallies imposed by Magufuli.

She focused connected completing large-scale Magafuli-era improvement projects and launched caller ones, particularly astir railway infrastructure and agrarian electrification. The president’s supporters, therefore, praise her grounds successful infrastructure development, improving entree to acquisition and improving wide stableness of governance successful the country.

However, portion galore hoped Tanzania would go much antiauthoritarian nether her leadership, Hassan’s benignant of governance has go progressively authoritarian, analysts say, and present much intimately resembles that of her predecessor.

In a study up of the elections, Amnesty International recovered that Hassan’s authorities has intensified “repressive practices” and has targeted absorption leaders, civilian nine activists and groups, journalists and different dissenting voices with forced disappearances, arrests, harassment and adjacent torture.

Tanzania’s authorities has consistently denied each accusations of quality rights violations.

Hassan’s run rallies person been highly disposable crossed the state – but hers has been astir the lone large nationalist campaign, with smaller parties sticking to their peculiar regions.

Some absorption parties are present calling for a boycott of the elections altogether. Speaking to Al Jazeera, Chadema enactment subordinate John Kitoka, who is presently successful hiding to debar arrest, said the elections are “completely a sham”.

How are absorption parties being dealt with?

Last week, Hassan urged Tanzanians to disregard calls to boycott the ballot and warned against protests.

“The lone demonstrations that volition beryllium are those of radical going to the polling stations to vote. There volition beryllium nary different demonstrations. There volition beryllium nary information threat,” she said.

Tanzania’s constabulary person besides warned against creating oregon distributing “inciting” contented connected societal media, threatening that those caught volition look prosecution. The state routinely restricts entree to societal media connected circumstantial occasions, specified arsenic during protests. Only prime accepted media person been approved to supply sum of the elections.

In the autonomous Zanzibar, which volition besides elite a president and parliament members, determination is much of an ambiance of competitory elections, observers say. Incumbent person Hussein Mwinyi of the ruling CCM is facing disconnected against the ACT-Wazalendo campaigner Othman Masoud, who has been serving arsenic his vice president successful a conjugation government.

Why person cardinal absorption candidates been barred from standing?

Tundu Lissu, 57, is the charismatic and wide fashionable absorption Chadema campaigner who lived successful exile successful Belgium for respective years during the Magufuli era. His party, which calls for escaped elections, simplification of statesmanlike powers, and promotion of quality rights, has been barred from the ballot for failing to conscionable a submission deadline, and Lissu is presently successful custody for alleged “treasonous” remarks helium made up of the elections.

The determination followed Lissu’s comments during a Chadema rally successful the confederate municipality of Mbinga connected April 3, during which helium urged his supporters to boycott the elections if Hassan’s authorities did not institute electoral reforms earlier the vote. Lissu was calling connected the authorities to alteration the constitution of the Independent National Election Commission, arguing that the bureau should not see radical appointed straight by Hassan.

Government officials claimed his statements were “inciting” and arrested Lissu connected April 9.

Three days later, the electoral committee disqualified Chadema from this predetermination – and each others until 2030 – connected the grounds that the enactment had failed to motion a mandatory Electoral Code of Conduct owed connected April 12.

Local media reported that 2 Chadema enactment members attending a rally successful enactment of Lissu connected April 24 were besides arrested by the Tanzanian police.

Last week, Chadema lawman chairperson John Heche, lawman chairperson of Chadema, was detained portion attempting to be Lissu’s proceedings astatine the Dar-es-Salaam High Court. He has not been seen since.

Lissu has been detained often. He survived an assassination effort successful 2017 aft helium was changeable 16 times.

In August, the elections committee besides barred absorption campaigner Luhaga Mpina, 50, of the ACT-Wazalendo, the second-largest absorption party. Mpina, a parliament subordinate who broke distant from the ruling CCM successful August to articulation ACT-Wazalendo – besides known arsenic the Alliance for Change and Transparency – was barred for allegedly failing to travel the rules for nominations during the statesmanlike primaries.

Hassan volition vie with 16 different candidates – nary of whom are from large nationalist parties oregon person an established governmental presence.

What are the cardinal issues for this election?

Shrinking antiauthoritarian freedoms

Observers accidental Tanzania’s democracy, already fragile during the presidency of Magafuli, is astatine hazard arsenic a effect of the Hassan government’s tightening of governmental freedoms and crackdowns connected the media.

Amnesty International notes that electoral rights violations were evident successful 2020 nether Magufuli, but person worsened up of this week’s polls.

Human Rights Watch and the United Nations quality rights bureau (UNHCR) person likewise documented reports of rights violations nether Hassan’s government, noting successful peculiar the disappearance of 2 determination activists, Boniface Mwangi from Kenya and Agather Atuhaire from Uganda, who travelled to witnesser Lissu’s proceedings but were detained successful Dar-es-Salaam connected May 19, 2025.

Mwangi was reportedly tortured and dumped successful a coastal Kenyan town, portion Atuhaire reported being sexually assaulted earlier besides being abandoned astatine the borderline with Uganda.

“More than 200 cases of enforced disappearance person been recorded successful Tanzania since 2019,” the UNHCR noted.

Business and economy

Tanzania’s economical maturation has been unchangeable with ostentation staying beneath the Central Bank’s 5 percent people successful caller years, according to the World Bank.

Unlike its neighbour, Kenya, the lower-middle-income state has avoided indebtedness distress, with GDP boosted by precocious request for its gold, tourism and cultivation commodities similar cashew nuts, java and cotton. However, the World Bank noted that 49 percent of the colonisation lives beneath the planetary poorness line.

While maturation has attracted overseas investment, authorities policies person negatively impacted the concern landscape: In July, Hassan’s authorities introduced caller restrictions banning foreigners from owning and operating businesses successful 15 sectors, including mobile wealth transfers, circuit guiding, small-scale mining and on-farm harvest buying.

Officials argued that excessively galore foreigners were engaging successful informal businesses that ought to payment Tanzanians. The determination played to caller protests against the rising influx of Chinese products and businesses successful Tanzanian markets, analysts say. Foreigners are besides banned from owning quality salons, souvenir shops and vigor and TV stations.

The determination proved arguable successful the determination East African Community bloc, peculiarly successful neighbouring Kenya, whose citizens marque up a important colonisation of concern owners successful the country, having taken vantage of the free-movement argumentation wrong the bloc.

Conservation challenges

While abundant wildlife and earthy resources person boosted the system via tourism, Tanzania faces large challenges successful managing human-wildlife conflict.

Clashes betwixt humans, peculiarly successful agrarian areas, and chaotic animals are becoming much communal owed to colonisation maturation and clime change, which is pushing animals person to quality settlements successful hunt of nutrient and water.

Human-elephant flare-ups are astir common. Between 2012 and 2019, much than 1,000 human-wildlife mortality cases were reported nationwide, according to information from Queen’s University, Canada.

While the authorities provides fiscal and worldly compensation to the families of those affected by human-wildlife struggle incidents, families often kick of receiving funds late.

Meanwhile, determination is tension betwixt the authorities and indigenous groups specified arsenic the Maasai, who are resisting being evicted to marque much country for conservation abstraction to beryllium utilized for tourism.

Last year, crackdowns connected Maasai protesters and resulting outrage from groups led to the World Bank suspending a $150m conservation grant, and the European Union cancelling Tanzania’s eligibility for a abstracted $20m grant.

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