Ofure Akhigbe
Tanzania’s electoral commission on Monday disqualified opposition presidential candidate Luhaga Mpina for the second time, effectively ending his bid to contest next month’s election.
Mpina, leader of the Alliance for Change and Transparency (ACT-Wazalendo), the country’s second-largest opposition party, had recently secured a court ruling overturning an earlier disqualification. The court decision temporarily allowed him to run, but the commission has now reversed that ruling.
ACT-Wazalendo described the decision as “baseless” and politically motivated. Mpina’s exclusion leaves President Samia Suluhu Hassan, who assumed office after the death of President John Magufuli in March 2021, with a clear path to victory, as only candidates from minor parties now appear eligible to contest.
The leading opposition party, CHADEMA, was disqualified in April for failing to sign the electoral code of conduct as part of its campaign for electoral reforms. CHADEMA leader Tundu Lissu has been imprisoned for over five months on treason charges, which he denies.
Human rights groups have warned that Lissu’s detention and growing restrictions on government critics signal a crackdown ahead of the election. In June, United Nations human rights experts called on the Tanzanian government to “stop the enforced disappearance of political opponents, human rights defenders and journalists, as a tool of repression in the electoral context.” They added, “Curtailing press and media freedom, and intimidating journalists and human rights defenders, is unacceptable. We are alarmed by reports of a pattern of repression in the lead-up to Tanzania’s general election in October.”