Major developments to note ahead of Tanzania’s October 29 election
By Luke Oluoch, October 26, 2025Tanzania, one of East Africa’s most populous nations and an emerging economy, is set to go to the polls this Wednesday, October 29, 2025.
Ahead of the polls, the Swahili-speaking county has been in the global headlines, with concerns about individual liberties and human rights violations dominating its pre-election discourse.
Here are the major political developments in the country ahead of the presidential and the members of the National Assembly elections.
Tanzania’s electoral structure
Just as in Kenya, Tanzanians elect their president and vice president jointly and directly via a simple majority popular vote.
They serve five-year terms, which are renewable once.
Presidential candidates
17 candidates and their parties were officially cleared to contest the elections.
However, the two main opposition parties, Chadema and ACT-Wazalendo (Alliance for Change and Transparency), will not be taking part.
Heading to the October 29 polls, Tundu Lissu, the main opposition leader, was on October 24, 2025, acquitted of treason charges by the country’s Supreme Court, with less than a week to the poll date.
Tundu Lissu
The politician has been incarcerated since April for demanding electoral reforms.
He has since refused to leave prison and is reportedly seeking to challenge the results afterward, arguing the government deliberately kept him detained to avoid fair competition.
Other major candidates from both parties have also been banned from standing for election.
President Suluhu on the ballot
The October 29, 2025, polls will be the first time President Samia Suluhu stands for elections seeking the presidency.
Suluhu took over the presidency in 2021 following the death of John Pombe Magufuli.
Human rights concerns.
The election comes amid claims of systemic human rights violations by the government authorities against perceived dissidents and members of the opposition party.
Concerns over tougher laws restricting rallies and campaigns, digital censorship, and other issues that could erode people’s trust in the upcoming polls.
Disappearances
The crackdown on dissidents followed the much-publicized detention, alleged torture, and deportation of two East African human rights defenders, Boniface Mwangi and Agatha Atuhaire, in August 2025.
Humphrey Polepole, a fierce government critic, and opposition vice-chairman John Heche are among the politicians who have been reportedly abducted, with their whereabouts still unknown.
CCM party dominance
Tanzania has predominantly been a one-party state since. CCM has effectively been in power since Tanzania’s independence from Britain in 1961.
Chadema’s best election result came in 2015 when its presidential candidate, Edward Lowassa, won almost 40% of the vote.
The number was not sufficient to topple President Magufuli, who clinched the presidency with 58 percent of the votes.