Following the October 29, 2025 General Election, INEC appointed 115 special seats MPs, of whom 113 were from the ruling party Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) and two from the opposition Chaumma Party.
Dar es Salaam. The High Court has granted Alliance for Change and Transparency (ACT-Wazalendo) permission to file a judicial review application challenging the appointment of special seats Members of Parliament.
The decision follows an application filed by the Registered Trustees of ACT-Wazalendo against the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the Attorney General (AG).
Following the October 29, 2025 General Election, INEC appointed 115 special seats MPs, of whom 113 were from the ruling party Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) and two from the opposition Chaumma Party.
ACT-Wazalendo, which also participated in the election without fielding a presidential candidate, did not secure any special seats MPs.
The party filed an application seeking leave to institute judicial review proceedings to challenge the appointments, which were publicly announced through a press statement on November 7, 2025.
In the miscellaneous civil application No. 28632/2025, the party sought permission to file a judicial review case seeking orders to quash INEC’s decision to appoint the special seats MPs without including its members, whom it claims were entitled to the appointments.
The applicants further asked the court to compel INEC to appoint special seats MPs in accordance with the law, including ACT-Wazalendo members, and to declare that Section 112 of the Presidential, Parliamentary and Councillors’ Elections Act of 2024 was not applicable in the circumstances of the case.
In a ruling delivered on Tuesday, December 30, 2025, High Court judge Sedekia Kisanya allowed the application.
Judge Kisanya said he was satisfied that the applicant had met all the legal requirements for the grant of leave to institute judicial review proceedings.
The application was supported by an affidavit sworn by ACT-Wazalendo trustee Mhongwa Ruhwanya, together with a Statement of Facts, which set out the background and legal basis of the application.
According to the affidavit, ACT-Wazalendo participated in the General Election held on October 29, 2025, and, anticipating that it would obtain at least five percent of the total parliamentary votes, submitted to INEC a preliminary list of female members proposed for appointment as special seats MPs.
The party stated that after the election it garnered a total of 2,222,162 votes across 181 constituencies, equivalent to 6.77 percent of all votes cast, thereby meeting the legal threshold for the allocation of special seats MPs.
However, it alleged that despite this entitlement, and without officially verifying the number of votes obtained by the party, INEC proceeded to announce the appointment of 115 special seats MPs, none of whom were ACT-Wazalendo members.
INEC and the AG had earlier raised a preliminary objection, arguing that the application was incompetent and that the High Court lacked jurisdiction to entertain the matter through judicial review, as it effectively challenged parliamentary election results announced by INEC.
The preliminary objection and the substantive application were heard together through written submissions.
The applicant’s submissions were prepared and presented by advocate John Seka, who responded to the preliminary objection and explained how his client had satisfied the legal requirements for leave to challenge the appointments.
On the other hand, the respondents’ submissions were prepared and presented by Senior State Attorney Stanley Kalokola, who elaborated on the preliminary objection and responded to the merits of the application.
In his ruling, Judge Kisanya dismissed the preliminary objection after finding it lacked merit.
On the substantive application, the judge held that the applicant had met the required criteria, including the existence of a justiciable dispute, filing the application within the statutory six-month period from the date of the impugned decision, and demonstrating sufficient interest in the matter.
He noted that as a political party that participated in the election, ACT-Wazalendo had a direct interest in the decision relating to the appointment of special seats MPs.
“For those reasons, I am satisfied that the application has merit. Leave to apply for judicial review is hereby granted,” Judge Kisanya ruled.
Apart from the case challenging the appointment of special seats MPs, ACT-Wazalendo has also filed 83 election petitions contesting the results of parliamentary and councillorship elections in Mainland Tanzania, as well as parliamentary, representative and councillorship elections in Zanzibar. The cases are at various stages pending full hearing.
