Tanzanian Opposition Push Electoral Reform

Opposition parties in Tanzania are jointly calling for the creation of an independent electoral commission ahead of local elections scheduled for later this year and national polls in 2020. 

Recent by-elections in the country have been criticised for irregularities and the current system in which the chair and the vice-chair of the electoral body are judges has been open to bias, according to opposition and civil society figures.

Speaking on behalf of a coalition of eight parties, spokesperson Hashim Rungwe this week set out the demand for an independent body.

Rungwe pointed to the fact that under the current system the head of the national election commission and the other commissioners are named by the President, who is also president of the ruling party. Rungwe described the situation in which all officials were appointed by the president to that of the ruling Chama cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party being both “player and referee.”