John AdoyiTanzania’s presidential campaign season officially kicks off on Thursday, but the country’s two biggest opposition parties will be absent from the ballot after electoral authorities blocked their candidates from contesting.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) announced that 17 contenders had been cleared to run in the 29 October General Election, including incumbent President Samia Suluhu Hassan of the ruling Chama cha Mapinduzi (CCM).
Join our WhatsApp ChannelHassan, who succeeded the late John Magufuli in 2021, is seeking her first full term in office with Emmanuel Nchimbi as her running mate.
But the Registrar of Political Parties on Tuesday revoked the nomination of Luhaga Mpina, candidate of the Alliance for Change and Transparency (ACT-Wazalendo), citing legal violations in the party’s internal nomination process. The decision, delivered just a day before the nomination deadline, was endorsed by INEC. ACT-Wazalendo has vowed to challenge the ruling in court.
In April, the commission had already disqualified the main opposition party, CHADEMA, after it refused to sign the electoral code of conduct as part of its push for reforms. Its chairman, Tundu Lissu, has been in jail for more than four months facing treason charges, which he denies.
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The exclusion of both CHADEMA and ACT-Wazalendo leaves Hassan facing candidates only from smaller, less influential parties, a development opposition figures and rights groups say raises serious questions about the credibility of the election.
ACT-Wazalendo’s Secretary General, Ado Shaibu, condemned the decision as “shameful” and accused the commission of lacking independence and professionalism.
Hassan, in a post on X after her nomination was confirmed, urged CCM members to “maintain unity to ensure victory for our party and for God’s permission to return to serve citizens.”
With campaigning now underway, observers say the disqualification of the leading opposition parties has tilted the electoral field sharply in favour of the incumbent.
