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

In elections scheduled to continue the 64-year-old rule of the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) or Party of Revolution, voters in Tanzania will vote at polling booths on Wednesday to choose a new president, as well as members of parliament, and councillors.

Despite a bevy of candidates in the lineup, incumbent President Samia Suluhu Hassan, analysts say, is virtually unchallenged and will almost certainly win, following what rights groups say has been a heavy crackdown on popular opposition members, activists and journalists.

What are people voting for and how will the elections be decided?

For each of Tanzania’s 29 regions, voters are selecting a president, a member of the parliament, and local councillors. A president and parliament members will also be elected in the autonomous island of Zanzibar.

The candidate with the most votes wins, regardless of whether the candidate is chosen by a plurality or simple majority.

Authorities declared that Wednesday would be a public holiday to allow people to vote, while early voting began in Zanzibar on Tuesday.

How many people cast ballots?

More than 37 million of the 60 million population are registered to vote. You must be a citizen who is 18 or older to vote.

Voter turnout in the last general elections in 2020 was just 50.72 percent, however, according to the International Foundation for Electoral Systems.

Who is President Samia Suluhu Hassan and why is she regarded as a shoe-in?

Hassan, 65, was formerly the nation’s vice president when John Magufuli passed away in March 2021, allowing him to serve the remainder of his presidency.

Hassan is presently one of only two African female leaders, the other being Namibia’s Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah. She is her country’s first female leader and its sixth president. She was previously minister of trade for Zanzibar, where she is from.

Hassan’s first election attempt was intended to demonstrate how Tanzanians have viewed her leadership so far, and this is her first attempt. However, analysts say the fact that her two strongest challengers have been barred from the polls means the president is running with virtually no competition.

Hassan immediately began torn down controversial policies that were put forth by isolationist leader Magafuli, who denied COVID-19 existed and refused to impose rules governing quarantines or vaccines after taking office in 2021.

Under Hassan, Tanzania joined the international COVAX facility, directed by institutions like the World Health Organization, to help distribute vaccines to developing countries, especially in Africa.

Hassan also lifted Magufuli’s six-year ban on holding political rallies, which he had previously imposed, to strike a conciliatory tone with opposition leaders.

She focused on completing large-scale Magafuli-era development projects and launched new ones, especially around railway infrastructure and rural electrification. Therefore, the president’s supporters praise her record in promoting infrastructure development, improving education access, and promoting overall stability of government.

However, while many hoped Tanzania would become more democratic under her leadership, Hassan’s style of governance has become increasingly authoritarian, analysts say, and now more closely resembles that of her predecessor.

Amnesty International discovered in a report released before the elections that Hassan’s administration has engaged in “repressive practices” and targeted opposition figures with forced disappearances, arrests, harassment, and even torture.

Tanzania’s government has consistently denied all accusations of human rights violations.

Although Hassan’s campaign rallies have been widely attended throughout the nation, hers is almost exclusively a major national campaign, with smaller parties sticking to their particular areas.

Some opposition parties are now calling for a boycott of the elections altogether. John Kitoka, a member of the Chadema party and currently a member of the party who is hiding from arrest, claimed the elections are “completely a sham” in an interview with Al Jazeera.

How are opposition parties being dealt with?

Hassan warned against protests and urged Tanzanians to ignore calls to boycott the election last week.

“The only demonstrations that will exist are those of people going to the polling stations to vote. No additional demonstrations will be held. There will be no security threat”, she said.

The police in Tanzania have also issued a warning against publishing “inciting” content on social media and putting a fine on those who are caught. The country routinely restricts access to social media on specific occasions, such as during protests. Only a select few traditional media outlets have been given approval to cover the election.

In the autonomous Zanzibar, which will also elect a president and parliament members, there is more of an atmosphere of competitive elections, observers say. Othman Masoud, the candidate for ACT-Wazalendo, who has been serving as his vice president, will face incumbent CCM leader Hussein Mwinyi in a coalition government.

Why have prominent opposition candidates been denied the right to run for office?

Tundu Lissu, 57, is the charismatic and widely popular opposition Chadema candidate who lived in exile in Belgium for several years during the Magufuli era. His party, which supports free elections, reducing presidential powers, and promoting human rights, has been detained for violating a submission deadline, and Lissu is currently being held in jail for allegedly making “treasonous” remarks prior to the elections.

The move followed Lissu’s comments during a Chadema rally in the southern town of Mbinga on April 3, during which he urged his supporters to boycott the elections if Hassan’s government did not institute electoral reforms before the vote. The Independent National Election Commission should not be made up of people appointed directly by Hassan, according to Lisassu, who was urging the government to change its composition.

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

Chadema was disqualified from this election and all other candidates until 2030, with the electoral commission blaming the party for failing to adhere to the election’s required Electoral Code of Conduct, which was due on April 12th.

Local media reported that two Chadema party members attending a rally in support of Lissu on April 24 were also arrested by the Tanzanian police.

John Heche, the deputy chairperson of Chadema, was detained last week trying to attend Lissu’s trial at the Dar-es-Salaam High Court. He has not been seen since.

Lissu has frequently been detained. He survived an assassination attempt in 2017 after he was shot 16 times.

Luhaga Mpina, 50, of the second-largest opposition party, ACT-Wazalendo, was also barred by the elections commission in August. Mpina, a parliament member who broke away from the ruling CCM in August to join ACT-Wazalendo – also known as the Alliance for Change and Transparency – was barred for allegedly failing to follow the rules for nominations during the presidential primaries.

Hassan will face 16 other candidates, none of whom are major political parties or have a standing standing in the political field.

Tanzanian police officers detain a supporter of the opposition leader and former presidential candidate of the Chadema party, Tundu Lissu, outside the High Court in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania, on September 15, 2025]Emmanuel Herman/Reuters]

What are the main concerns for this election?

Shrinking democratic freedoms

Observers claim that the Hassan government’s tightening of political freedoms and media crackdowns are putting in danger Tanzania’s fragile democracy, which was already fragile during Magafuli’s presidency.

Amnesty International notes that electoral rights violations were apparent in 2020 under Magufuli, but have worsened ahead of this week’s polls.

Reports of human rights violations under Hassan’s regime, particularly those involving Boniface Mwangi from Kenya and Agather Atuhaire from Uganda, who travelled to Dar-es-Salaam to witness Lissu’s trial but were detained in Dar-es-Salaam on May 19, 2025, have been documented by Human Rights Watch and the UN human rights agency (UNHCR).

Mwangi was reportedly tortured and dumped in a coastal Kenyan town, while Atuhaire reported being sexually assaulted before also being abandoned at the border with Uganda.

Since 2019, the UNHCR has reported that “more than 200 cases of enforced disappearance have been reported in Tanzania.”

Business and economy

The World Bank claims that Tanzania’s economy has grown steadily while inflation has not exceeded the Central Bank’s 5-percent target in recent years.

Unlike its neighbour, Kenya, the lower-middle-income country has avoided debt distress, with GDP boosted by high demand for its gold, tourism and agricultural commodities like cashew nuts, coffee and cotton. The World Bank noted that 49 percent of people do not reach the poverty line internationally.

While growth has attracted foreign investment, government policies have negatively impacted the business landscape: In July, Hassan’s government introduced new restrictions banning foreigners from owning and operating businesses in 15 sectors, including mobile money transfers, tour guiding, small-scale mining and on-farm crop buying.

According to officials, too many foreigners were operating informal businesses that should help Tanzanians. The move played to recent protests against the rising influx of Chinese products and businesses in Tanzanian markets, analysts say. Additionally, it is against the law for foreigners to own radio and television stations, beauty salons, and souvenir shops.

The move proved controversial in the regional East African Community bloc, particularly in neighbouring Kenya, whose citizens make up a significant population of business owners in the country, having taken advantage of the free-movement policy within the bloc.

Conservation difficulties

While abundant wildlife and natural resources have boosted the economy via tourism, Tanzania faces major challenges in managing human-wildlife conflict.

Due to population growth and climate change, which are bringing wild and human species closer to human settlements in search of food and water, are becoming more frequent.

Human-elephant flare-ups are most common. More than 1, 000 human-wildlife mortality cases have been reported nationwide since 2012 and 2019, according to data from Queen’s University in Canada.

While the government provides financial and material compensation to the families of those affected by human-wildlife conflict incidents, families often complain of receiving funds late.

Meanwhile, there is conflict between the government and indigenous groups, including the Maasai, who oppose being removed to make room for more tourism-related conservation space.