Regional observers now dismiss Tanzania polls in unflattering accounts

The Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) electoral observation mission that monitored presidential elections in Tanzania has in its preliminary report indicated that voters did not freely express their democratic will in most areas of the country.

In some polling stations, the SADC monitors observed multiple orderly stacked ballots in the ballot boxes during voting.

That created a perception of ballot stuffing, and an impression that individuals cast more than one vote at a time with the intention to cheat the election system.

The team led by the former speaker of parliament of Malawi Richard Msowoya said, overall, the 2025 General Election in Tanzania fell short of the requirements of the SADC Principles and Guidelines Governing Democratic Elections.

“The Mission appeals to the citizens of the country to channel their concerns through established legal procedures and processes and not resort to violence or threats thereof,” read the statement.

It was also endorsed by Dr Specioza Kazibwe, former vice president of Uganda and head of the East African Community Election Observation Mission.

The report was released to the heads and representatives of the diplomatic missions accredited to the United Republic of Tanzania, and all heads of international election observation missions.

The SEOM, SADC Electoral Observer Mission, statement was not delivered two days after election day, following their usual practice, due to security and communication challenges, which made it impractical to follow the normal procedure.

“The SEAC [Southern African Electoral Commission Forum] shall return at an appropriate time to undertake a post-election review to determine the extent to which the recommendations of SEOM have been implemented and the nature of support, if any, that the Member State holding elections may require from the SADC,” they said.

The presence of police was observed at 96 per cent of the polling stations, but in some stations, they were more than the number of voters.

In Dar Es Salaam, the Mission noted heavy presence of police and some major roads were closed.

They also noted a very low voter turnout in all polling stations observed, while some centers did not have voters at all. 

The Mission could not generate polling, closing and counting statistics due to internet shutdown that negatively impacted the use of the SEOM system used to generate data. 

“Most of our observers could not observe closing and counting due to incidents and threats of violence in some areas. The Mission did not observe the presence of domestic observers in most of the polling stations,” the report concluded.

The SADC team called for improvements in the electoral process.

The Mission recommended that in line with the SADC Principles and Guidelines Governing Democratic Elections (2021), the government and the National Assembly of Tanzania should prioritise an inclusive process of the review of the Constitution.

That should be done with a view to soliciting public views on the current and future modalities with respect to independent political candidates, permitting election petitions related to the presidential election, and judicial review of some of the decisions of the electoral management bodies.

In line with the same principles, they should create an enabling environment to ensure there are no exclusionary requirements on individuals seeking to be nominated for election.

Challenges

The observers initially experienced challenges in consulting with key stakeholders, particularly the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), as they had not been issued with introduction letters together with accreditation identification cards as required by the law.

Some stakeholders were reluctant to share information with the observers and often referred them to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation for further information.

Despite carrying their accreditation identification cards, the observers in Tanga Town were subjected to aggressive interrogation by the security forces.

Their official documents, including their passports were seized, though they were later returned, but they were then forced to delete mission-related photographs from their official gadgets.

The SEOM strength is 80 in total, comprising 66 observers, 13 SADC Secretariat staff and one SEAC member. They deployed 27 teams of observers to 27 of the 31 regions of Tanzania.

Areas covered included Dar Es Salaam, Arusha, Dodoma, Geita, Iringa, Kilimanjaro, Pemba North, Mbeya, Mwanza, Morogoro, Zanzibar Central and South, Tanga, Lindi and Ruvuma.

They were also present in Zanzibar Urban and West, Manyara, Pemba South, Mtwara, Njombe, Shinyanga, Pwani, Singida, Rukwa, Kigoma, and Kagera.

The Mission did not deploy in Katavi, Simiya, Songwe and Mara.