Tanzania’s 2025 Elections Overshadowed by Repression, Censorship and Systematic Rights Violations

Author: Aamnah Fatima Khan

October 27, 2025

HRRC strongly condemns the Tanzanian authorities’ repression and deliberate erosion of democratic freedoms in the lead-up to the 2025 elections. These actions blatantly violate international human rights obligations and undermine the principles of free expression, political participation and justice.

Tanzanian opposition party Chadema chairman Tundu Lissu has demanded electoral reforms to change a process he says favors the ruling CCM party [Image source: CIVICUS Monitor]

As Tanzania prepares for its general elections on 29 October 2025, the country faces an alarming surge in political repression, intimidation, and censorship. Opposition leaders, journalists and civil society members have become prime targets of a state-led campaign aimed at silencing dissent and tightening control over the political landscape.

Authorities have disqualified major opposition candidates, including Luhaga Mpina of ACT-Wazalendo and Tundu Lissu of Chadema, on questionable legal grounds, leaving the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi party with little genuine competition. Opposition parties have also faced arbitrary arrests, politically motivated charges, and restrictions on public gatherings. Reports of enforced disappearances, torture and extrajudicial killings of critics have deepened fears of a climate of impunity.

Freedom of expression and digital rights have also come under assault, with thousands of websites, social media accounts and online platforms shut down under the guise of protecting public morality. Independent media outlets have been suspended or censored, while journalists and activists continue to face intimidation for reporting on state abuses.

These developments violate core principles of international human rights law, including Articles 19, 21 and 25 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which guarantee freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and the right to participate in public affairs. They also contravene Articles 9 and 13 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), which protect individuals from arbitrary arrest and ensure freedom of movement and participation in governance.

Unless immediate steps are taken to restore civic freedoms, ensure judicial independence, and end impunity, Tanzania’s 2025 elections risk becoming a procedural formality devoid of legitimacy.

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Glossary

• Arbi

• trary arrests – When people are taken by the police without a fair reason or legal process.

• Blatant – Very obvious or clear; done without trying to hide it.

• Censorship – the suppression of speech, public communication or other information. 

• Charges – Official accusations saying someone has broken the law.

• Civic freedom – The right of people to speak, meet, and act freely in society.

• Civil Society – the collection of non-governmental organizations, groups and institutions that people form to work on shared interests outside of government and the private market

• Condemn – To strongly say that something is wrong or bad.

• Contravene – To go against or break a rule or law.

• Deliberate – Done on purpose or intentionally.

• Devoid – to be completely lacking or without something, such as a person, place or thing.

• Dissent – Disagreement, especially with the government or authority.

• Enforced disappearances – When people are secretly taken away by authorities and their whereabouts are hidden.

• Erosion – Slow weakening or loss of something, like rights or freedoms.

• Extrajudicial killings – When someone is killed by authorities without a court trial.

• Guise – A false reason or cover used to hide the real purpose.

• Impunity – Freedom from punishment even after doing something wrong.

• Judicial independence – When courts can make decisions without control or pressure from the government.

• Legitimacy – Being lawful, fair, and accepted as right.

• Obligatory – Something that must be done because it is a rule or duty.

• Overshadowed – to be made to seem less important, successful or impressive than someone or something else. 

• Peaceful assembly – The right to gather and protest without violence.

• Procedural Formality – formal actions or customs that are carried out as part of a particular activity or event

• Repression – Using force to control or silence people, especially critics or protesters.

• Suspended – to stop something from being active, either temporarily or permanently. 

• Systematic – using a fixed, organized plan or method to do something in a thorough and efficient way.

• Undermine – to gradually weaken something, often in an indirect or secret way, making it less effective. 

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References 

1. https://monitor.civicus.org/explore/government-intensifies-crackdown-on-opposition-online-spaces-ahead-of-2025-elections/ 

2. https://www.channelafrica.co.za/channelafrica/news/authorities-instil-fear-tighten-repression-ahead-of-elections-tanzania/

3. https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/international-covenant-civil-and-political-rights

4. https://www.article19.org/resources/tanzania-protect-free-expression-protest-and-activism-during-elections/

5. https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights

6. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Chama-Cha-Mapinduzi