Dar es Salaam. Tundu Lissu, the chairperson of the opposition party CHADEMA, is set to face his first leadership test on Thursday as he is expected to promote the party’s ‘No Reforms, No Election’ agenda to members who had planned to run for public office in the upcoming general elections.
On March 27, 2025, the centre-right political party announced that the meeting—scheduled to take place at CHADEMA’s headquarters in Dar es Salaam—will include the party’s leadership and members who intended to run for Parliament. These members are considered one of the “special groups” that need to be fully briefed on the ‘No Reforms, No Election’ campaign, the party said.
“This meeting is part of the party’s strategy to reach out to various special groups and stakeholders in elections, democracy, and the party’s future, with the aim of uniting them behind our ‘No Reforms, No Election’ campaign,” said the statement signed by CHADEMA’s spokesperson, Brenda Rupia.
CHADEMA launched its ‘No Reforms, No Election’ campaign on December 11, 2024, in response to the 2024 local government elections, which were marred by the disqualification of opposition candidates, violence, ballot stuffing, and ultimately resulted in the ruling Chama cha Mapinduzi (CCM) securing a 99 per cent victory.
Lissu, elected as the party’s new chairperson on January 22, 2025, succeeding Freeman Mbowe, inherited this agenda and made its implementation the party’s highest priority. He has been organizing rallies nationwide to promote the agenda among party members, emphasizing its crucial role in achieving key reforms for free and fair elections in Tanzania.
READ MORE: Restore the Value of Our Vote – A Call for Electoral Reforms in Tanzania
“My fellow citizens, let us be honest with ourselves,” Mr Lissu declared to the crowd at his March 23, 2025 rally in Mbeya. “This current electoral system will lead us nowhere. We must reform this process completely. The necessary changes have been clear for decades – indeed, the late Justice Francis Nyalali identified these very issues in his landmark 1991 commission report.”
The proposed reforms call for an independent electoral commission without presidential appointees, along with safeguards to prevent state institutions—particularly police and security forces—from allegedly interfering in elections to benefit CCM. CHADEMA has warned it will block elections if these changes aren’t implemented, though the party hasn’t specified its methods for doing so.
However, some party members have expressed dissent, questioning both the effectiveness of this stance and its potential consequences for CHADEMA’s future as a political party. According to Wednesday leaks on social media platform X, some parliamentary hopefuls planned to boycott Thursday’s meeting and issue a public statement dissenting from the party’s official position.
The leaked material includes WhatsApp chat screenshots from a group called ‘G-55,’ where party members – including some senior officials from the previous leadership – debated whether to attend the scheduled meeting. They also discussed alternative strategies to oppose what they view as a position contrary to the party’s best interests.
Among them is Jon Mrema, former CHADEMA director of protocol, communications and foreign affairs. The leaked screenshots show him advocating for a boycott of Thursday’s meeting, arguing that attendance would amount to endorsing the party’s position.
READ MORE: CHADEMA Presents Its ‘No Reform, No Election’ Agenda to Party Registrar
“It is the legitimacy [the leadership] seeks,” wrote M Mrema, CHADEMA’s 2020 parliamentary candidate for Segerea, in the group chat. “By boycotting, we send a clear message that this current path is burying our party. You don’t call people together just to lecture them.”
In a post on X, Mr Mrema acknowledged the messages were his while raising doubts about both the efficacy of the ‘No Reforms, No Elections’ campaign and its implications for CHADEMA’s political future.
“We need clear answers,” Mr Mrema wrote. “What becomes of the party if we fail to stop the elections and then boycott them? What’s our actual plan to block the elections? I’ve heard about petitioning – but to whom exactly?”
The party leadership has not yet responded to these reports ahead of Thursday’s meeting. However, some members have condemned the dissenting actions, calling them “unconstitutional” and “an act of betrayal” against CHADEMA’s official stance.
