Good morning! The Chanzo is here with a rundown of major news stories reported in Tanzania on August 25, 2025.
18 Parties Sign Zanzibar General Election Code of Ethics, CHADEMA Boycotts
A total of 18 political parties have signed the Zanzibar General Election Code of Ethics, which aims to ensure fairness among candidates, and that the election is conducted on the basis of freedom, justice, equality and the inclusion of all social groups.
In the election, which will be overseen by the Zanzibar Electoral Commission (ZEC) and will take place over two days, October 28 and October 29, 2025, Zanzibaris are expected to cast their votes for the President of Zanzibar, representatives of the Zanzibar House of Representatives, as well as councillors.
The parties that signed the code on Sunday, August 24, 2025, are AAFP, ADC, ACT-Wazalendo, Chama cha Mapinduzi (CCM), ADA TADEA, CHAUMMA, CUF, DP, CCK, MAKINI, NCCR-Mageuzi, NLD, NRA, TLP, SAU, UDP, ULD, and UPDP.
Speaking at the event for the signing of the Code, ZEC chairperson George Joseph Kazi, stated that the Code is important for ensuring collective accountability.
“All three parties that have signed today must fulfil their responsibilities as outlined in this Code,” Judge Kazi said, referring to political parties, ZEC and the government. “The goal is to have a historic, democratic, and credible election for the citizens.”
Continue reading here
CCM Members Threaten to Vote Opposition After NEC Snubs Primary Winners: ‘Where Is Democracy?’
Some members and supporters of Tanzania’s ruling party, Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM), have criticised it for disqualifying winners of the primary elections for the 2025 parliamentary seats and replacing them with candidates who lost the internal party process.
CCM finalised its process of selecting parliamentary candidates for the general election scheduled for October 29, 2025, on August 23, 2025, by announcing the names that its top decision-making organs, meeting in Dodoma, had appointed to contest for those positions.
However, contrary to the expectations of some of its members and supporters, CCM not only failed to nominate those who won the opinion polls, but it even passed over candidates who finished third in those internal contests, a situation that angered some of the party’s followers and led to public protests against the decision.
This opposition has been clearly visible in the Tanga Urban constituency, where CCM passed over primary winner and long-time incumbent MP Ummy Mwalimu to nominate Kassim Amari Mbaraka as its candidate for the October general election.
In the primary, Mwalimu—a former government minister—decisively won with 5,750 votes, overwhelmingly defeating her four rivals; Mbaraka received only 80.
Continue reading here
Beyond the Ballot: Do Dar Locals Feel They Gain from Multi-Party Democracy?
Residents from Tanzania’s commercial capital have described the multi-party political system as a good thing for the country to have, as it allows citizens to decide who their representative should be, but it also helps to keep those in power on their toes.
These residents gave their opinions during conversations with The Chanzo when we visited them in their work areas, with many of them hoping that the system continues to exist due to its benefits, and that the shortcomings facing it are corrected for the broader public good.
“I benefit, because, for me to choose a President that I like, each party must present a Presidential candidate, each party must present an MP candidate, each party must present a councilor candidate, so I can choose the President I want, choose the MP I want, choose the councilor I want,” said Mama Mudi from Msasani.
“Compared to if you present candidates by saying maybe one party presents one candidate, another party presents another, then I don’t benefit from them, because every citizen chooses the leader they prefer,” added this mother who works as a food hawker, known locally as mamantilie.
Jumanne Husseni Bigo, a resident of Manzese who runs a newspaper vending business, says that the multi-party system has great benefits because it wakes up those who were entrusted with forming the government in the previous election.
Challenges to incumbents
“Those people of the ruling party,” says Bigo, “who somewhat felt like they were the only ones there, but because there are many [parties], it has brought challenges.”
Continue reading here
Zanzibar VP: World’s Silence Emboldens Tanzania’s Democratic Decline
Zanzibar’s First Vice President, Othman Masoud Othman, has blamed the international community’s indifference to events in the islands and across Tanzania for emboldening the ruling Chama cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party, which he says acts with impunity because it knows it can get away with anything.
According to a press release from the office of the First Vice President of Zanzibar, released late Monday evening, Othman, a presidential candidate for Zanzibar from the opposition party ACT Wazalendo, stated that the ruling party’s conduct regarding competitive democracy has disillusioned most citizens.
He accused the international community of exacerbating the situation by continuing to embrace both the Zanzibar and Union governments despite these events.
The national chairperson of ACT Wazalendo made the remarks on August 25, 2025, at his office in Zanzibar, where he met and held discussions with a delegation from the Foreign Affairs Committee of the U.S. Congress. The delegation aimed to understand the sentiments and perspectives of the country’s top leaders ahead of the General Election in October 2025.
“CCM feels that citizens have nothing they can do to confront that party; and that they, as the ruling party, have convinced themselves that major world powers do not care nor do they condemn their actions and their acts of plunder; and that is a great tragedy against justice and democracy,” said Othman, who is a lawyer by profession.
Continue reading here
Inside the Court Ruling that Dismissed the Petition Against Samia’s Nomination as CCM Presidential Candidate for the 2025 Election
Godfrey Malisa is one of three individuals from the ruling party, Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM), who have publicly opposed the nomination of Samia Suluhu Hassan as the party’s presidential candidate, citing violations of both the party constitution and the national constitution.
The other two include Humphrey Polepole, the former Tanzanian Ambassador to Cuba and a party insider who resigned in protest and has consistently maintained that the nomination process is illegitimate, and Davidlevi Nestory Kindikwa , a CCM member from Mwanza who publicly shared a letter he wrote to the Registrar of Political Parties raising similar concerns.
Unlike Polepole and Kindikwa, Malisa pursued legal action. However, his petition was dismissed by the High Court on August 22, 2025. The respondents in the matter, the CCM Board of Trustees and its Secretary General, were represented by Alex Mgongolwa and Fabian Donatus Msalya Mnada.
The case was presided over by three judges: Joachim Charles Tiganga, Evaristo Emmanuel Longopa, and Griffin Venance Mwakapeje. The judges dismissed the petition on two grounds: first, they argued that the petitioner failed to exhaust internal party remedies before approaching the court, and second, they highlighted defects in the affidavit submitted by the petitioner. Both issues were raised by the respondents as preliminary objections to the petition.
The court noted inconsistencies in the petitioner’s affidavit. In some parts, he was introduced as Dr. Godfrey Fataeli Mlamie Malisa, while in the verification section the title “Dr.” was omitted, leaving Godfrey Fataeli Mlamie Malisa. In another section completed by the Commissioner for Oaths, the name appeared as Godfrey Fataeli Malisa. The court argued this are three different people introduced in the affidavit.
Continue reading here
This is it for today, and we hope you enjoyed our briefing. Please consider subscribing to our newsletter (see left), following us on X (Twitter) (here), or you can support us (here). And if you have any questions or comments, please drop a word to our editors at editor@thechanzo.com .
