Photo credits: © Paul Kagame, Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
Everything pointed in a troubling direction ahead of Tanzania’s October 2025 elections, suggesting a process with little genuine legitimacy. Several developments underscored this trend:
- The Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party has been in power since independence.
- Ahead of the elections, major opposition parties were disqualified from participating, including CHADEMA and ACT‑Wazalendo,
- Arbitrary arrests, assaults, extrajudicial killings, and enforced disappearances targeted opposition leaders, civil society actors, journalists, and other dissenting voices.
- Tanzania was downgraded from “Partly Free” in 2020 to “Not Free” in the 2025 Freedom in the World report.
- Laws such as the Media Services Act, Cybercrimes Act, and Political Parties Act are being leveraged to restrict civic space.
- Groups promoting voter education and mobilisation face scrutiny and risk public targeting.
- Cases of selective accreditation have been granted to local election observer groups.
- Internet censorship and government-designated “online patrols” actively suppress dissent.
As expected, voting day confirmed these troubling trends. With voters intimidated by curfews and internet shutdowns, and a pervasive climate of fear, the election clearly served the interests of those in power—not the people. By any standard, the vote was far from free or fair. E-HORN observers documented these irregularities and have proposed concrete steps to restore democratic space and strengthen future electoral processes.
