Tanzania’s main opposition party faces election ban after leaders are charged with treason
Dar es Salaam (AP) in Tanzania – Tanzania’s main opposition party will be excluded from the October general election after being charged with treason last week.
Ramadhani Kailima, director of the Independent National Election Commission, told reporters that on Saturday, the Shadema Party signed an event for all parties on Saturday, violating the legal requirements for political parties to participate in the polls.
“No political party that did not participate today will have a chance tomorrow,” Kelimma said. “So if one party has not submitted a declaration, it will not participate in this year’s 2025 election or any other by-elections that may occur in five years.”
Chadema’s leader Tundu Lissu was charged Thursday with treason after being arrested at a public rally, calling for election reforms ahead of the election. Opposition leaders were forced into police cars late Wednesday after speaking at a rally in the southern town of Mbinga, which is more than 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) from the commercial capital Dar Es Salaam.
Tanzania will elect president and parliamentarians in the October general election.
The opposition in Tanzania has been calling for election reforms to ensure that the upcoming vote is free and fair. Chadma said in a statement Saturday that it opposed elections without “basic election reform.”
Human rights activists accuse President Samia Suluhu Hassan of using violent tactics against the opposition. The government denies the claim.
In 2017, three years before the last general election, Lissu survived 16 shots. His party is critical of the laws favoring the ruling CCM party, which has been in power since Tanzania’s independence in 1961.
