The President of Tanzania, John Magufuli, has dissolved parliament ahead of elections which are due in October. This is in line with the constitution of Tanzania which requires the National Assembly to end its session months prior to elections.
“I want to assure everyone that the elections will be free and fair, for all political parties,” he said in an address to lawmakers. President Magufuli will be running for a second and final five-year term in office.
While Magufuli boasts about his infrastructural exploits in Tanzania, including adding another 3,500 km (2,170 miles) of tarmacked road, Tanzania’s democracy seems to be dying in his hands. The President has been accused of human rights violations including curbing freedom of expression, restricting media, preventing opposition parties from holding public rallies and sometimes private meetings and jailing his critics.
Prior to this dissolution, Tanzanian opposition leader and government critic, Freeman Mbowe, who announced his intention to run against President Magufuli, was ambushed by unknown assailants on his way home one Monday evening. His Chadema Party described it as a politically motivated attack. Mbowe, prior to his assault, accused Mr Magufuli of being in a “state of denial” over the coronavirus and accused the incumbent of hiding information about the real scale of the crisis in Tanzania. He had also asked legislators to stop attending parliament sessions and isolate themselves after three MPs died of unknown causes.
While many countries have moved their elections to prevent further spread of the coronavirus, Tanzania will go ahead with their polls in October. It is one of the countries that did not impose stringent measures against COVID-19 citing economic turmoil. The president declared the country coronavirus free, as it had been ‘eliminated by God.’
Amnesty International, reports that the Magufuli led government, ahead of the October 2020 general elections, amended the Political Parties Act to give the Registrar of Political Parties powers to deregister political parties on vague grounds such as “contravening the Act”, demand unreasonable information from them, and suspend members of political parties. The new provisions will also require organizations and individuals to get approval from the Registrar before participating in civic education courses.
Tanzania currently has a multiparty system, with The Chama Cha Mapinduzi being its longest-ruling party since independence and the second longest-ruling party on the African continent. Members of the National Assembly are voted in a first past the post system, where each voter is allowed to vote for only one candidate (Or party), and the candidate with the highest number of votes is elected
