Tanzania: intense campaigns

by Polls Africa

Published October 2020

Citizens of Tanzania head to the polls on October 28 for the country's highly anticipated presidential election. Tanzania's election commission cleared 17 candidates with 2 of them being female. Campaigns, which officially kicked off on August 27 are set to close on October 27, a day to the D-Day.

In Summary

According to the electoral body, more than 30 million voters had updated their information in the voter registry in between July 2019 and February 2020.

The incumbent President John Magufuli will be seeking a second term of 5 years as the candidate of the governing Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party. The ruling CCM has dominated the political scene since the nation attained independence in 1961. Following the restoration of multi-party politics in 1992, CCM has won all of the past five general elections held in 1995, 2000, 2005, 2010 and 2015.

The opposition

The candidate for the main opposition party, The Party for Democracy and Progress, commonly known as CHADEMA is veteran opposition leader Tundu Lissu. In September 2017 Tundu Lissu was shot 16 times outside his residence in the capital, Dodoma.

He has been in exile since then, first in Kenya, and then in Belgium, undergoing some 20 surgeries. A human rights lawyer, Lissu returned to Tanzania in July and secured nomination to run for presidency against Magufuli.

Bernard Membe, a former ruling party member who failed in the 2015 CCM nomination for its presidential candidate, is contesting in this year’s general election on the Alliance for Change and Transparency (ACT-Wazalendo) party ticket. He was expelled from CCM in February 2020 for what the party termed as indiscipline and violation of the party’s ethics and constitution.

The opposition, which has accused the National Electoral Commission of blocking several of its candidates for parliamentary and local positions, has expressed fears of government meddling in the October 28 elections. Magufuli has pledged free and fair polls.

*	Candidate	Party
	John Magufuli	Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM)
	Leopold Mahona	National Reconstruction Alliance (NRA)
	John Shibuda	African Democratic Alliance Party (ADA-TADEA)
	Mutamwega Mgaywa	Sauti ya Umma (SAU)
	Jeremiah Magan- ja	Chama cha Mageuzi na Ujenzi wa Taifa National (NCCRMageuzi)
	Cecilia Mbaga	DM
	Ibrahim Lipumba	Civic United Front (CUF)
	Philipo Fumbo	Chama Cha Kidemokrasia (CCK)
	Bernard Membe	Alliance for Change and Transparency (ACT-Wazalendo)
	Queen Sendiga	Alliance for Democratic (ADC)
	Hashim Rungwe	Chama cha Ukombozi wa Umma (CHAUMMA)
	Khalfan Mazrui	Union for Multiparty Democracy (UMD)
	Seif Maalim Seif	Alliance for African Farmers Party (AAFP)
	Twalib Kadege	United Peoples Democratic Party (UPDP)
	Tundu Lissu	Chama cha Demokrasia na Maendeleo (CHADEMA)

2015 elections

The 2020 Tanzania generation election will be the 6^th since 1995 when the country held its first multi-party elections. The 2015 election that saw President Magufuli take over from President Jakaya Kikwete, was highly contested with the main opposition candidate Edward Lowassa running on a CHADEMA ticket.

Lowassa, a former Prime Minister of Tanzania from 2005 to 2008, was previously in CCM but left after the party failed to select him as its presidential candidate for the October 2015 election, in a shock elimination. Lowassa got 39% of the votes and lost to Magufuli who won with 58%. In 2019 Lowassa left CHADEMA and returned the ruling party CCM.

Candidate	Party	Votes	%
John Magufuli	Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM)	8,882,935	58.40%
Edward Lowassa	Chama cha Demokrasia na Maendeleo (CHADEMA)	6,072,848	39.90%
Anna Elisha Mghwira	Alliance for Change and Transparency (ACT)	98,763	0.70%
Lutalosa Yembe	Alliance for Democratic Change (ADC)	66,049	0.40%
Hashim Rungwe Spunda	Chama cha Ukombozi wa Umma (CHAUMMA)	49,256	0.30%
Machmillan Elifatio Lyimo	Tanzania Labour Party (TLP)	8,198	0.05%
Janken Malik Kasambala	National Reconstruction Alliance (NRA)	8,028	0.05%
Fahmi Nassoro Dovutwa	United People's Democratic Party (UPDP)	7,785	0.05%
Invalid/blank votes		402,248
Total Votes		15,596,110	100
Voter turnout		23,161,440	67.30%

Chronology of Presidents

*	President	Bio
	5th President John Magufuli	John Pombe Magufuli, born 29 October 1959, is the current President of United Republic of Tanzania since coming to power in 2015. Dr. Magufuli, run in the October 2015 presidential elections as the candidate of the ruling party, Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM). He won with 58% of the vote and was sworn in as President on 5 November 2015. Magufuli faced a strong challenge from opposition candidate and previous CCM political party member Edward Lowassa, who was then contesting under a CHADEMA party ticket. Magufuli is running for re-election in the October 29 2020 presidential election after being nominated in July 2020 as the CCM's presidential candidate. Magufuli is also the current chair of CCM, the party he has led since 2016.
	4th President Jakaya Kikwete	Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete led the United Republic of Tanzania as President for 9 years from 2005 to 2015. Before his election as President, he was the Minister for Foreign Affairs from 1995 to 2005 under his predecessor, Benjamin Mkapa. On 4 May 2005, Kikwete won the Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party’s nomination for presidential candidacy in the general election. He contested for Presidency in the 14th December 2005 multiparty general election which he won to become fourth president of the United Republic of Tanzania on 21 December. During his presidency, Kiwete also headed the African Union (AU) as the chairperson in 2008 to 2009 and was chairman of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Troika on Peace, Defence and Security in 2012 to 2013. The 70-year-old Kikwete lives in Msoga, Tanzania.
	3rd President Benjamin Mkapa	Benjamin William Mkapa was the 3rd President of Tanzania for 10 years from 1995 to 2005 for two successive terms of 5 years each. Before that, he had served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1977 to 1980 and again from 1984 to 1990. Mkapa chaired the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party from 1996 to 2005. During this term in office, Mkapa privatized state-owned corporations and instituted free market policies, policies which won the support of the World Bank and the IMF and resulted in the cancellation of some of Tanzania's foreign debts. Benjamin Mkapa passed away on the 24th of July 2020 aged 82 years.
	2nd President Ali Hassan Mwinyi	Ali Hassan Mwinyi succeeded Julius Nyerere on 5 November 1985 after the latter picked him to be his successor in October 1985. Previously Mwinyi served in the Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) government as Interior Minister and Vice President. He was President of the United Republic of Tanzania for 10 years until the end of his second term in 1995. Mwinyi became chairman of the ruling party CCM in 1990 up until 1996. During his time in office, Mwinyi worked to reverse the failed socialist policies of his predecessor. Multi-party politics were also introduced in his second term. Ali Hassan Mwinyi, 95 years old, lives in Dar es Salaam, the former capital of Tanzania and the largest city in East Africa.
	1st President Julius Nyerere	Julius Kambarage Nyerere was Prime Minister, then President of Tanganyika and later President of Tanzania. He was in office for 21 years. Before Tanzania, there was Tanganyika. A socialist, Nyerere started as Prime Minister of Tanganyika from 1961 to 1962 and then as President from 1963 to 1964. After the Zanzibar Revolution of 1964, the islands of Zanzibar and Pemba were unified with Tanganyika to form the United Republic of Tanzania. Mwalimu (teacher) Nyerere, as he was honorifically known, then became President of Tanzania from 1964 to 1985 under the Tanganyika African National Union (TANU) party. In 1977 TANU became Chama Cha Mapinduzi (Revolution Party, CCM) party. After his presidency Mwalimu Nyerere remained as chairman of CCM for five years until 1990. He died in 1999 and is consider the Father of the Nation.
		Independence from Britain in 1961

Source: www.eisa.org | NEC | Wikipedia

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