Analysts advocate fair, inclusive elections: Lessons from recent polls

Dar es Salaam. Political analysts have suggested what happened in the last election should be a lesson in the next, the process should be fair, and inclusive, candidates should not face disqualification over minor technical errors that can be easily corrected.

Another learning lesson suggested by analysts is that the security organs should administer justice in the broad interest of the nation and political parties should put the national interest before the personal interest of their parties.

Tanzania is set to hold civic polls this November to elect local government leaders for a five-year term. Political analysts noted that the last election had shortcomings that the electoral system failed to address, leading to a boycott by opposition parties.

The country is going to the elections while several reforms have been held including the amendment of the electoral law, and the implementation of President Samia Suluhu Hassan's 4Rs which are Reform, Rebuild Reconciliation, and Resilience. 

The last election was held in 2019 the ruling party Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) managed to win almost 100 percent.

However, some citizens are saying due to challenges that occurred in the past election they were forced to elect people who were not their choices and are now regretting because the nominations have failed to bring them the expected development for the past five years.

Speaking to The Citizen yesterday a senior lecturer, Faculty of Law of The Open University of Tanzania (OUT) Dr Victoria Lihiru said that it remains challenging for local elections to be coordinated and managed by the President's Office-Regional Administration and Local Government.

The election commission should have the responsibility of supervising both local and national elections.

She said civil society organisations should be granted timely accreditation to conduct voter education and to observe all stages of the electoral process, including the pre-election, Election Day, and post-election phases.

 “Their involvement is crucial for fostering an informed electorate and for ensuring that the elections are credible.”

“Women should not be confined to contesting in women-only categories in hamlets, villages, and streets; instead, they should be encouraged and allowed to freely compete for mainstream seats,” she said.

According to her, candidates should not face disqualification over minor technical errors that can be easily corrected, the electoral process should be fair and inclusive, allowing candidates the opportunity to rectify such issues without being unfairly removed from the race.

She added that comprehensive reports on local elections, covering key components of the electoral process and highlighting how different community groups participate, should be published, released, and made easily accessible to the public.

“These reports are vital in documenting lessons and planning for future elections by state and non-state actors.”

For his part, a senior lecturer in Politics at the University of Dr Paul Letayo said learning from the previous 219 elections may help to avoid experienced mistakes should establishment of regulations that reflect multiparty democracy and not favor one side. “This will allow equal rights to all participants.”

He suggested the assurance of a fair and transparent process during the domination of the aspirants and finally contestants as well as minimizing and if possible restricting the involvement of the government officers in the electoral process other than those that require mandatory involvement.

“Threats and intimidation to the electorate should not be allowed so that they participate freely in the process. People should be allowed to exercise their powers vested in the constitution,” he said.

According to him, counting and announcing results should be done in a transparent and participatory manner.

On the other hand, a senior lecturer in Political Science, and Public Administration from OUT Dr Revocatus Kabobe added that the 2019 election indeed had some shortcomings that the electoral system failed to resolve until the opposition parties boycotted the election.

“We witnessed candidates being removed for very simple reasons, once they don't know how to read and write, and once they have filled out the form incorrectly. In my opinion, these were just excuses to justify elections that are not competitive and do not meet the criteria in multi-party politics,” he said.

Although there have been changes to the electoral law, still the electoral system has not been free and fair to all parties participating in the elections.

“The complaints of the opposition parties have always been to remove the council directors from managing the elections whose appointment authority (the President) is part of the competitor in those elections.”

“Without consensus on the best way to go to the next local government elections, I will not be surprised to see what happened in 2019 repeating itself, especially the opposition parties boycotting these elections.

It is quite possible that we will not see a wave of ousting leaders, but we can see continued complaints about the legitimacy of the election managers,” he said.

Dr Kabobe suggested that an election law based on the consensus of all election stakeholders, an independent election commission, and the independence of the commission should not be seen only in the name but its structure.

Civil education should be given to citizens who are important stakeholders in elections. The state institutions should administer justice in the broad interest of the nation.

There should not be any smell of favoritism on any side, political parties should put the national interest before the personal interest of their parties.

A resident of Dar es Salaam, Mr Charles Mwakatobe, said there is a need to address mistakes from the last election, noting that many challenges persist in the community with inadequate action from leaders.

“For example, in our area, the chairman is known by only a few people, and after being elected, he does not seem to address the challenges of the resident. I regret electing him,” he said.

Mr Mwakatobe said that local government leaders may lack development funds but emphasized that they have a platform to represent voters' concerns.

He cited issues such as poor road conditions and unsatisfactory water supply, criticising the leader for failing to engage with the community or organise public meetings.