Dar es Salaam. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) continues to face the challenging task of defending its integrity after new allegations were raised regarding the integration of the voter registration system with the national identity system, commonly referred to as NIDA and the ruling party systems.
The allegation is that this integration ensures that even if a person does not register to vote or does not show up on election day, but has a NIDA number, and the system recognises them, then they will be considered as having registered to vote and as having voted.
These allegations, which have continued to dominate discussions on various social media platforms, were first raised on August 22, 2025, by a former senior leader of the Chama cha Mapinduzi (CCM) who has since become a major critic of the ruling party, Humphrey Polepole.
Speaking during one of his virtual meetings with Tanzanians, Polepole, who resigned as Tanzania’s Ambassador to Cuba on July 13, 2025, before being stripped of that title by President Samia Suluhu Hassan on August 5, 2025, stated that CCM built these systems to guarantee itself victory in the elections even before the votes are cast.
“It is the systems that we built within the Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM), where, if you look at them even before we go to the elections, you see the votes are already there,” said Polepole, who served as CCM’s Ideology and Publicity Secretary from 2016 to 2021.
READ MORE: INEC Tanzania Responds to Concerns Over Voter Register Numbers
“And these systems—I, being one of the architects—are integrated from the Chama Cha Mapinduzi, linked to NIDA, and connected to the systems of the Electoral Commission,” the former lawmaker continued. “That is why at the grassroots level, public servants are being asked, and this they can confirm, down there, people are following them, telling them, ‘Give me your voter card, give me those [NIDA] numbers.”
“They are asking for [NIDA] numbers right now, down there, at the very bottom, they are asking,” Mr Polepole added. “When these systems were built, their intention was good, but if they fall into the wrong hands, their purpose becomes completely malicious.”
Polepole made these remarks within the context of the urgent need for reforms in the country’s electoral system to ensure that elections are conducted in an environment of freedom and fairness.
According to him, these reforms will not only benefit opposition parties and other democracy stakeholders but also CCM itself by gaining legitimacy and support among Tanzanians.
‘Misleading information’
But one day after Polepole made these allegations, the Director of Elections from INEC, Ramadhani Kailima, publicly addressed the matter on August 23, 2025, urging citizens to disregard the claims. He stated that the information was inaccurate and that those spreading it aimed to create tension, calling on the public to ignore them.
READ MORE: CHADEMA Criticises INEC’s Voter Statistics
“There is false and misleading information circulating on social media claiming that the electoral data system used by INEC is integrated with the NIDA system and a certain political party, and that the voting process (election) has already been completed,” Kailima said in a statement.
“These false and misleading claims are being propagated by an individual with no expertise or understanding of the electoral system,” he added.
NIDA Integration
In its response, INEC explained that no system integration has been made for voting purposes.
“The Permanent Voter Register is not integrated with any government or private institutional system for electoral purposes.”
“The voting, counting, and results announcement processes do not employ any form of electronic system. The entire procedure—from casting ballots to tallying votes and announcing outcomes—is conducted strictly through manual methods.”
Earlier on March 05, 2025, INEC explained several technological achievements it has made to the voters registration exercise, which include key improvements to the Biometric Voter Registration Kit (BVR Kit) by transitioning to an Android-based system as well as integration with National Identification Authority (NIDA).
INEC head of ICT, Stanslaus Mwita, who is also responsible for the Permanent Voter Register, was speaking during a meeting between INEC and election stakeholders in Dar es Salaam.
“We carried out initial improvements and established a systematic integration between our voter registration system—or the system for updating voter information—and the database of the National Identification Authority (NIDA),” Mr Mwita said.
“This means that a voter who already possesses a NIDA card or has a NIDA identification number can go to a registration centre. When they provide the operator of the biometric device with their details, they will not be required to manually enter their name and other information already held by the National Identification Authority.
READ MORE: INEC Registers 37.6 Million Tanzanians for October Polls
“Instead, the operator will simply enter the identification number, and the system will automatically retrieve their details from NIDA. The process will then continue with other steps, such as taking a photograph, capturing a signature, and ensuring that the registration exercise at the centre is conducted efficiently.”
This debate regarding the integrity of the nation’s primary electoral management body arises at a time when some stakeholders in the country’s multiparty political landscape have expressed a lack of confidence in the ability of electoral oversight institutions to act fairly while carrying out their duties.
Some of these stakeholders have accused INEC of favouring CCM, allegations that both institutions have vehemently denied. In its August 23 statement, INEC assured Tanzanians that it is fully prepared to oversee the electoral process with competence and integrity. It called on citizens to ready themselves to participate in the exercise, while urging them to disregard the “false and misleading information” being spread with the aim of causing “unrest.”
Media under fire
Tanzanian media, including The Chanzo, have come under heavy criticism on social media for failing to report immediately or live-stream Polepole’s scathing claims until after INEC issued a response. Many users have continued to hit hard in the comment sections of various outlets, labeling Tanzanian media as “traitors.”
Ever since Polepole made his allegations against INEC, editors have been scrambling to obtain the Commission’s response. This comes amid intensifying scrutiny of election coverage by authorities.
“Do we really have media in Tanzania?” asked John Heche, the Vice-Chairperson of Tanzania’s main opposition party, CHADEMA.
“What Polepole said, someone you all know very well was a competent authority on the matters he spoke about, he was a member of the CCM Central Committee, National Publicity Secretary, has served as an Ambassador, and held other positions. You have neither written about it nor broadcast it on your TVs as news,” Heche continued.
“But the responses from the Commission and NIDA to Polepole, you publicize and write about them. Who are you broadcasting to? when you have denied him the chance for his side to be heard? What a shame!”
Amid this perceived failure of the media, highly influential U.S.-based activist Mange Kimambi has vowed to launch a new outlet on August 28, 2025, promising it will cover all issues unfiltered.
“As we have seen, these media pages nowadays have become compromised. We used to trust them, but money is money—they have turned against us. Even Jamii Forums, Jambo TV, Millard, and I’ve even seen The Chanzo,” Kimambi posted on her Instagram.
“We shouldn’t just complain, we have to take action now—no more complaining. Taking action means starting our own media page. We must have people’s media; this will be a non-profit media outlet,” she continued.
“First, I will hire three people at Sh. 500,000 per month, I will start by using my own resources. We want truthful news from that media, but we also want all news to be reported. It will be a page that is fair to everybody and writes about everything, good or bad,” she emphasized.
