Tanzania’s election feels like a coronation not a contest for President Samia Suluhu Hassan
Samia’s CCM has won every election since the reintroduction of multi-party democracy in 1992, but the campaigns are usually vibrant with robust debate between the rival parties.
While the electoral commission has cleared 17 presidential candidates to stand this time, the main opposition party, Chadema, is barred with its leader, Tundu Lissu, currently on trial for treason.
He had been calling for electoral reforms before his arrest in April – and the party is now urging its supporters to boycott the poll.
His deputy, John Heche, was also arrested last week – and told the BBC just before his detention that President Samia’s so-called reforms were hollow: “Yes, rallies were allowed again, but today Chadema can’t do its mandate because the promises were fake.”
Meanwhile, presidential hopeful Luhana Mpina, from the second largest opposition party, ACT Wazalendo, has also been disqualified – twice.
He had managed to get his candidacy reinstated by the High Court after he was barred over a procedural issue – but when the Attorney General appealed last month, the electoral commission decided to uphold the disqualification.
This leaves smaller opposition parties like Chaumma and CUF in the race, but in reality there is no chance of them stopping Samia winning her first personal mandate.
“The ruling party’s control, exclusion of the opposition and institutional bias undermine electoral credibility. Limited civic space and low voter engagement further weaken inclusiveness,” said political analyst Nicodemus Minde in a recent report for the Institute for Security Studies (ISS) think-tank.
This has left some would-be voters, like Dar es Salaam resident Godfrey Lusana, despondent.
“We do not have an election without a strong opposition. The electoral system is not independent. We already know who will win. I can’t waste time to vote,” he told the BBC. “If the electoral commission was really independent, I would have voted.”
