Good morning! The Chanzo is here with a rundown of major news stories reported in Tanzania on August 28, 2025.
CCM Begins the 2025 Campaign with ‘The President of Hard Times’ Narrative. Samia Promises to Establish a Commission for Reconciliation and Mediation Within the First 100 Days in Office
The streets of Dar es Salaam were ‘painted’ green and yellow on August 28, 2025, as Tanzania’s ruling party, Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) launched its campaign at Kawe. Led by senior party officials, former presidents, and its candidate Samia Suluhu Hassan, who is seeking a second term, CCM set the tone of its campaign by portraying Samia’s presidency as one that began in uncertain and challenging times, yet managed to keep the country together.
Former President Jakaya Kikwete laid the foundation for this narrative. He started by first responding to questions raised about Samia’s candidacy. In recent months, some party cadres have claimed that CCM’s constitution and procedures were violated during her selection as the 2025 flagbearer.
“There some words going around or some chit-chat, claiming that procedures were violated and I was blamed for my remarks at the national congress. But I say, those who were saying that either do not understand the procedure of our party, or if they do, perhaps they have forgotten, or they are pretending to be ignorant,” Kikwete said in the opening of his speech.
Read the full article here.
ACT Wazalendo Presidential Candidate: Tanzania Govt Has Five Days to Defend Disqualification
The High Court of Tanzania on Thursday gave the government five days to explain why the decision of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to fail to nominate the presidential candidate from the opposition ACT Wazalendo party did not violate the Constitution, laws, and election regulations.
This step comes after ACT Wazalendo challenged the INEC’s move to prevent Luhaga Mpina from resubmitting his nomination form, citing a decision by the Registrar of Political Parties to nullify his nomination on claims that the process to appoint him violated the party’s own guidelines.
Based on the press release from ACT Wazalendo dated August 28, 2025, which described the court’s decision as “crucial,” the High Court, which heard the case virtually, rejected the government’s application for a 14-day extension to file its response, granting them only five days to do so.
“The court has stated that even though the nomination exercise ended yesterday, August 27, 2025, if it is satisfied that the commission violated the Constitution, laws, and regulations in preventing Mpina from resubmitting his form, it will not hesitate to grant him the opportunity to resubmit the form and be nominated to run for the presidency of Tanzania,” the statement added.
Read the full article here.
ZEC Releases Schedule for Collecting Presidential Nomination Forms for 2025 Zanzibar General Election
The Zanzibar Electoral Commission (ZEC) announced on Thursday that the exercise of collecting nomination forms for the presidential race in the semi-autonomous archipelago’s General Election of October 2025 will officially begin on August 30, 2025.
Speaking on August 28, 2025, ZEC Director of Elections, Thabit Idarous Faina, said that the nomination process will be opened by ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM). Its presidential candidate will collect the nomination form on August 30 at 10:00 AM at the commission’s offices.
Later that same day, the National League for Democracy (NLD) will collect its form at 11:00 AM, followed by the Alliance for African Farmers Party (AAFP) at 12:00 PM, and the Civic United Front (CUF) at 1:00 PM. The Tanzania Labour Party (TLP) is scheduled for 2:00 PM, and the day’s proceedings will conclude at 3:00 PM with the issuance of the form to the NRA party.
According to Mr Faina, the schedule for August 31, 2025, will begin with the NCCR Mageuzi party at 9:00 AM. The ACT Wazalendo party will follow at 10:00 AM, and the Chama cha Kijamii (CCK) at 11:00 AM. This will be followed by the DP party, which will return its form at 6:00 PM.
Mr Faina added that to collect the forms, an applicant must first obtain a unique payment control number. He confirmed that all 17 parties have already acquired their payment numbers for this purpose.
ZEC has indicated that the electoral exercise, which will take place over two days on October 28 and October 29, is expected to cost Zanzibar a total of Sh12 billion to conduct.
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