Dar es Salaam – The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has issued a revised count of registered voters for the upcoming 2025 General Election, now standing at 37,622,255—a slight reduction from the 37,847,255 initially announced.
In an official statement released on Tuesday, October 7, 2025, the commission also confirmed that a total of 99,895 polling stations will be used nationwide, down from the previously announced 99,911, following adjustments made by the Zanzibar Electoral Commission (ZEC).
According to the updated figures, a total of 37,622,255 Tanzanians are registered to vote in the forthcoming elections. The geographical distribution shows 37,550,992 voters are from Tanzania Mainland, while 296,263 are from Zanzibar.
The gender breakdown reveals women constitute 19,050,001 registered voters, representing 50.34 per cent of the electorate, while men number 18,796,254, accounting for 49.66 per cent.
The polling infrastructure will see 99,895 stations operational nationwide, with 97,246 located on the Mainland and 2,567 in Zanzibar.
READ MORE: CHADEMA Criticises INEC’s Voter Statistics
The commission noted that these figures represent a significant increase from the 2020 general election, with voter registration up by 28.35 per cent from 29,475,409, and polling stations increasing by 22.47 per cent from 81,567.
The electoral process follows Section 4(2) of the Election of President, Members of Parliament and Councilors Act No. 1 of 2020, which mandates integrated voter registration between Tanzania Mainland and Zanzibar for presidential and parliamentary elections.
“The Voter Register of the Zanzibar Electoral Commission forms part of the National Electoral Commission’s register for presidential and parliamentary elections in Zanzibar,” stated INEC Director of Elections Ramadhan Kailima.
The revised figures come amid scrutiny from political stakeholders, including the main opposition party CHADEMA, which had questioned the initial voter statistics.
On July 29, 2025, CHADEMA’s Director of Organisation and Elections, John Pambalu, raised concerns that the initial figure of 37.8 million registered voters exceeded realistic projections based on the 2022 Population and Housing Census.
READ MORE: INEC Tanzania Responds to Concerns Over Voter Register Numbers
“Even if no one had emigrated, no one had died, and we considered only Tanzanians aged 14—with those aged 15 and above being eligible to vote—that group totals 35 million,” Pambalu stated. “Where did the extra 2.6 million people come from?”
In response on August 3, 2025, Kailima clarified that approximately 3.1 million individuals who should have registered in 2015 and 2020 but hadn’t, were now included in the updated register.
“When you subtract these, the number of completely new voters aged 18 or above is about four million,” Kailima explained. “We have never even reached those census figures in that area.”
Tanzania’s general elections are scheduled for October 29, 2025, with Zanzibar’s voting commencing on October 28, 2025. INEC operates as an independent body overseeing Union elections in both Tanzania Mainland and Zanzibar.
However, the semi-autonomous archipelago operates its own electoral commission, which manages elections for the Zanzibari presidency and local legislature.
In its statement on Tuesday, INEC said it has provided political parties participating in the elections with the complete list of polling stations to be used for the presidential, parliamentary, and local councillor elections.
