Dar es Salaam. Opposition party ACT Wazalendo said on Wednesday that it intends to file a case in court to challenge the decision of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to disqualify its presidential candidate, Luhaga Mpina, for the General Election on October 29, 2025.
The party’s attorney general, Omar Said Shaaban, announced at a press conference: “We are challenging the Commission’s decision in court and are demanding both an order and a legal interpretation of the Registrar’s directives.”
Mr Shaaban added that they had instructed their lawyers to file the case under a ‘Certificate of Extreme Urgency’ due to the limited time, but insisted the party is still directing all its candidates nationwide, including its presidential nominee, to submit their forms as scheduled.
The move comes after INEC wrote to ACT Wazalendo on August 26, 2025, informing the political party that the national electoral authority has decided not to nominate Mpina after the Office of the Registrar of Political Parties communicated that it had nullified his nomination.
The Registrar nullified the nomination after concurring with the arguments of ACT Wazalendo member, Monalisa Joseph Ndala, who had petitioned the Registrar, alleging that Mpina’s nomination violated the party’s own rules and procedures governing the selection of leaders seeking positions in state organs.
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“On that basis, the Commission will not be able to nominate Comrade Luhaga Joelson Mpina as a presidential candidate for the United Republic of Tanzania,” read INEC’s letter to ACT Wazalendo, signed by the director of elections, Ramadhan Kailima.
“Therefore, we inform you that we are withdrawing our letter […] dated August 15, 2025, concerning the issuance of nomination forms to the aforementioned candidate,” the letter added. “Consequently, he should not come to the Commission’s offices [today], August 27, 2025, for the nomination.”
Despite the directive, Mpina and his delegation arrived at the INEC offices in the Njedengwa area of Dodoma to submit his nomination forms. The attempt, however, was unsuccessful. Several police officers were present at the location to ensure the exercise could not proceed successfully.
Photos circulating online showed ACT Wazalendo leaders arguing with police officials before Mpina ultimately left the area without submitting the form. This crucial step would have formally qualified him to run for president in the October 2025 election.
Previously, ACT Wazalendo’s Secretary-General, Ado Shaibu, had challenged the commission’s decision in a letter to the INEC Chairman. He argued that the move was unlawful, contravening both the national electoral law and the country’s Constitution.
ACT Wazalendo contends that INEC’s actions have undermined fundamental democratic principles, violated citizens’ constitutional rights to fair elections, and compromised the integrity of Tanzania’s electoral system through arbitrary and unjustified administrative decisions.
“We believe that this decision by the commission is unjust, illegal, unconstitutional, and an extreme travesty of justice; it is something we cannot tolerate,” Mr Shaaban said during the press conference. “We have told INEC in our letter that this is something they should not have done, and if there is a complaint, then the complainant should bring it through the objection process, and we will contest it under that procedure
“We maintain that internal party nomination procedures are an internal institutional matter. They cannot be used to override or invalidate the constitutional qualifications required for public office. This has been our consistent position,” he added.
In its letter, INEC advised ACT Wazalendo to nominate a different, qualified candidate to allow the electoral process to proceed. However, the party has given no indication that it intends to comply with this recommendation.
According to the INEC schedule, the deadline for submitting nomination forms for presidential, parliamentary, and councillor candidates was today, August 27, 2025, at 4:00 PM. Presidential and Vice-Presidential candidates were required to submit their forms at the commission’s offices in the Njedengwa area of Dodoma.
Overall, 17 parties have returned the nomination forms to INEC out of the 18 that collected the forms. The 18th is ACT Wazalendo, whose candidate was excluded from the process.
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The nomination process for parliamentary candidates of the United Republic of Tanzania and for councillors in Tanzania Mainland will be conducted by Returning Officers and Assistant Returning Officers. Parliamentary candidates will be vetted at the constituency level, while councillor candidates will be vetted at the ward level.
In a separate announcement on Wednesday, INEC declared that it will award a brand new 2025 Toyota Land Cruiser GX VXR to every eligible presidential candidate formally nominated by a political party contesting the 2025 General Election.
