DAR ES SALAAM : Tanzanians voted on Wednesday in a presidential election widely expected to return President Samia Suluhu Hassan to power, after the country’s two main opposition parties were barred from participating.
Alongside the presidential race, voters are also choosing members of the 400-seat parliament and leadership for the semi-autonomous Zanzibar archipelago.
The National Electoral Commission disqualified the leading opposition party, CHADEMA, in April after it refused to sign an electoral code of conduct. Its leader, Tundu Lissu, is currently on trial for treason charges he denies. The second-largest opposition group, ACT-Wazalendo, was also excluded after an objection from the Attorney General, leaving only minor-party challengers to contest Hassan’s ruling CCM.
CCM, which traces its roots to Tanzania’s independence movement, has dominated politics since 1977. Rights groups, including Amnesty International, have accused authorities of suppressing dissent allegations the government denies.
The election commission said results will be announced within three days. Polls opened at 0400 GMT and close at 1300 GMT.
Hassan, whose campaign posters fill cities and villages, has highlighted her record on infrastructure, power generation, and education, promising to hire more teachers in her next term.
Initially praised for easing political restrictions after the hardline rule of John Magufuli, Hassan has more recently faced criticism over alleged abductions of opposition figures. She ordered a probe into the reports last year, but findings have yet to be released.
Amnesty International urged the government to end what it called an “unacceptable campaign of repression,” while government spokesperson Gerson Msigwa rejected the allegations as inconsistent with Tanzania’s “legal and institutional safeguards.”
The outcome of Wednesday’s vote will determine whether Tanzania remains the last dominant-party system in southern Africa, amid growing electoral challenges to other liberation-era movements across the region.
-WNN Desk
