Dar es Salaam – Tanzania’s electoral commission has disqualified opposition presidential candidate Luhaga Mpina for a second time, removing him from the ballot just two days after formally nominating him in compliance with a High Court order.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) announced on Monday that it had upheld an objection filed by the Attorney General, ruling that Mpina lacks the qualifications to contest the presidency because he has not been properly sponsored by a political party.
The decision represents a dramatic reversal of fortunes for the ACT Wazalendo party candidate, whose candidacy has become the focal point of a bitter legal and political battle ahead of Tanzania’s October 29 general election.
Mpina’s disqualification caps an extraordinary week that saw his candidacy reinstated by the High Court on September 11, only to be challenged again through fresh objections and now definitively rejected by the electoral commission.
INEC cited provisions of the Elections Act and accompanying regulations in its decision to remove Mpina from the presidential candidates list. The commission agreed with the Attorney General’s argument that Mpina’s nomination by ACT Wazalendo violated the party’s internal procedures, effectively meaning he lacks proper political party sponsorship required under Tanzanian law.
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The objection centred on a ruling by the Registrar of Political Parties on August 26 that nullified Mpina’s nomination, following a complaint by ACT Wazalendo member Monalisa Joseph Ndala. She had argued that Mpina’s selection violated party rules, particularly regarding membership duration requirements.
The latest disqualification comes despite a landmark High Court ruling just four days earlier that declared Mpina’s initial removal from the ballot unconstitutional. The court had found that INEC violated Mpina’s right to be heard and exceeded its authority by following directives from the Registrar of Political Parties.
Following that court order, INEC had formally nominated Mpina and his running mate, Fatma Abdulhabid Ferej, on September 13. However, the commission’s decision to entertain and uphold the Attorney General’s objection has effectively nullified the court’s intervention.
Whilst the commission upheld the Attorney General’s objection against Mpina, it rejected and dismissed similar objections filed by presidential candidates from the National Reconstruction Alliance (NRA) and Alliance for African Farmers Party (AAFP) against Mpina.
INEC also refused to entertain an objection that Mpina himself had filed against President Samia Suluhu Hassan’s candidacy. ACT Wazalendo had argued that the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party violated its own constitution in nominating Samia without following proper internal procedures.
The disqualification removes the most prominent challenger to President Samia, who is seeking her first electoral mandate since assuming power following John Magufuli’s death in 2021.
ACT Wazalendo had positioned Mpina, a former government minister who defected from the ruling party in August, as a credible alternative to continued CCM dominance.
The development continues a pattern of opposition exclusion that has characterised the 2025 electoral cycle. The main opposition party, CHADEMA, is already sidelined from the presidential race, with its leader, Tundu Lissu, facing treason charges.
ACT Wazalendo had denounced the latest attempts as part of “plots and deliberate schemes by the ruling Chama cha Mapinduzi party and the government” to eliminate viable challengers. The party has indicated it will pursue further legal challenges, having already filed a constitutional case in the High Court.
With formal campaigning already underway and polling scheduled for October 29, observers view the removal of major opposition candidates as threatening to reduce the election to a largely ceremonial exercise, potentially undermining its legitimacy both domestically and internationally.
The electoral commission’s decision leaves President Samia facing a field of largely unknown challengers, virtually guaranteeing her re-election but raising questions about the credibility of Tanzania’s democratic processes.
