The Chama Cha Mapinduzi Party (CCM), one of Africa’s longest-governing parties, and the outcomes of the October 29, 2025, general elections in Tanzania have become topics of debate across Africa and beyond. The election results, which confirmed the re-election of the first woman President, Samia Suluhu Hassan, were reported to have been marred by vote manipulation, the use of state institutions to suppress dissent and some media outlets, arrests of opposition leaders, internet restrictions, disqualification of two strong opposition parties and their leaders, and violent protests and the deployment of police and military forces to harass the people.

The situation has led to unconfirmed reports of thousands of deaths, abductions of opposition leaders, and hundreds of injuries. Consequently, the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the African Union’s observers, and other reports confirm that the elections were neither free nor fair. All these events have reignited a narrative that most liberation movements in Africa cling to power through the manipulation of independent electoral commissions rather than the will of the people. 

When President Samia Hassan was first inaugurated in 2021 following the death of her predecessor, President John Magufuli, the inauguration ceremony was traditionally held at a stadium filled with citizens. However, on November 3, 2025, an unprecedented event occurred: the inauguration took place in the capital, Dodoma, at the military base, without crowds and under heavy military security. This act symbolises the extent to which the will of the people was manipulated; ironically, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) claims that CCM received 98% of the vote.

Through the liberation struggle led by the Tanganyika African National Union (TANU), the former country called Tanganyika gained independence from Britain in 1961. Subsequently, Zanzibar gained independence in 1964 under the leadership of the Afro-Shirazi Party (ASP), which had achieved independence from an Arab-dominated sultanate that had also gained independence from Britain a month earlier. CCM has governed Tanzania since 1977, following the merger of Tanganyika (Mainland) and Zanzibar (Island). This was later succeeded by the unification of the two liberation political parties: President Julius Nyerere’s liberation movement, TANU, and the ASP of the first President of Zanzibar, Abeid Karume. 

Sixty-four years ago, in his seminal book, ‘The Wretched of the Earth’, luminary writer Frantz Fanon envisioned the disintegration and dissipation of the liberation movements in Africa during the post-colonial period as a result of the ‘sins of incumbency’, such as, among others, the suppression of the critical voice of the masses that was ignited by the very same leaders of the liberation movements during the struggle for independence.

Therefore, Africans must critically analyse recent developments in Tanzania through the lenses of the warnings and advice of Africa’s luminary writers, in his view about election in Tanzania; Mwanga (2022) stated that “the fact that a country holds regular elections is not sufficient to show that the country is democratic if the institution (IEC) responsible for supervising elections is not politically neutral, professional and committed to democratic values”. The recent actions and behaviour of President Hassan and her political party, CCM, have demonstrated that the NEC and other state institutions are not as independent as they are purported to be.  

In 1992, the Tanzanian government decided to reintroduce a multi-party system following the National Conference of the governing party, CCM. The first election under this system was held in 1995; however, the major mistake was placing the National Electoral Commission (NEC) in the Office of the President, with the power to appoint and dismiss its officials. 

In 2010, allegations emerged that the district returning officers of the NEC were members of the governing party and, since 2005, had been using their positions within the commissions to influence processes and disqualify certain opposition members. These allegations were challenged in the High Court after one of the human rights and governance activists questioned the constitutionality of the president’s powers and called for an electoral review. The High Court ruled in favour of the activist; unfortunately, the appeals court overturned the ruling. Apparently, these political inferences were addressed only in theory following the NEC’s review to become an independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), but in practice, the governing party continues to interfere unabatedly with the administrative operations of government institutions and electoral commissions. 

A few months before the elections in Tanzania, Tundu Lissu, a presidential candidate for Chama Cha Demokrasia na Maendeleo (CHADEMA), one of the two main opposition parties, was arrested and charged with treason for calling for electoral reform. The INEC apparently disqualified him from contesting the election, but, interestingly, two days after the general elections, he was acquitted and remained in custody for a few days before he could be released. Conversely, Luhaga Mpina, a leader of the second-largest opposition party, the Alliance for Change and Transparency (ACT Wazalendo), was also disqualified as a presidential candidate over minor technicalities. He took the matter to court and won, but was still removed from the ballot paper. Recently, a similar situation occurred during the general elections in Cameroon, the Ivory Coast, and many other African countries.

These contemporary developments in Tanzania resonate with Chinua Achebe’s novel “Man of the People” of almost 60 years ago. In the novel, Achebe reminds us of a main character who was called Chief Nanga, a very corrupt minister under the government of the People’s Organisation Party (POP), Nanga and fellow minister Simon Koko used their influence in the governing party and in government to control the electoral commission, suppress dissent and politically interfere with administrative work of government, to the extent that, it refused to register a new party called the Common People’s Convention (CPC).

It is reported that when President Hassan assumed office in 2021, she introduced significant initiatives that revived hope among Tanzanians. She engaged and consulted opposition parties. Unfortunately, nearly a year before the elections, she began to oppose the opposition parties and also decided to remove loyalists of her predecessors, both within the party and government; some leaders were abducted and have not been seen since. Hassan intensified factionalism within CCM, leading to the emergence of breakaway parties that weakened and threatened the hegemony of the liberation movement. 

Some of the so-called Magufulists fought internally against the successor of their leader within CCM, and as a result of the factional battles, the government began to struggle to provide services and fulfil the promises made by the then-new, first female president. However, President Hassan unexpectedly returned to Magufuli’s old leadership style. She reappointed Magufuli’s loyalists in the party and government, according to Elizabeth Oma, a journalist at Africanews. President Hassan had little choice but to succumb to the pressure from the old generals and businesspeople who have continued to control CCM for decades. As a result, the president faced a decision: risk losing her presidency or take orders from those who had captured the liberation movement to stay in power. 

Let me paraphrase Fanon: the organic parties (African liberation movements) that once served as an oasis of critical thought, ideological debate, and parliamentary engagement have been seized by cartels and gangsters, transformed into instruments for personal gratification at the expense of the suffering masses. The issues of democracy, liberation movements, alternative governance and electoral systems in Africa are highly relevant and must feature prominently in the ongoing discussions across the continent.

* Orapeleng Matshediso is a Masters graduate of Pan African Development Studies and Research Fellow at the University of Johannesburg (Institute for Pan African Thought and Conversation). 

** The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of IOL or Independent Media.

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