Tanzania - Election 1995
Benjamin W. Mkapa was elected President of Tanzania in November 1995 based on a popular anti-corruption campaign and the strong support of the founding President Julius Nyerere. He was the third President of the Republic of Tanzania since independence in 1961. Mkapa had taken the reign at the time when the east African country was wobbling in severe economic doldrums, characterized by spiraling inflation, and managed to institute strict austerity to give the ailing economy a new lease of life.
The 1995 elections and the long run-up to the elections came after pressure from Nyerere, when President Mwinyi appointed a commission of inquiry into the feasibility of a multiparty state in 1991. The commission, headed by Chief Justice Francis Nyalali tendered its report in February, 1992 and recommended that the necessary changes be made in Tanzania's constitution and in the Electoral Act for a separation between state and party institutions and for the return to multiparty politics. The report was strongly endorsed by Nyerere at a party conference of the CCM, and was subsequently formally accepted by the conference and the National Executive Committee of the party. While members of CCM certainly legislated an end to the era of party domination, and while Tanzania has quietly undergone a period of significant political liberalization since 1992, the ruling party remains the dominant political organization in the country.
The United Republic of Tanzania amended its Constitution in 1992 to become a multiparty state. In October and November 1995, the Republic held its first multiparty general elections for President and Parliament in more than 30 years. The ruling party, Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM), continued to control the Union Government, winning 186 of the 232 seats in Parliament. The CCM presidential candidate, Benjamin apa, won a four-way race with 61.8 percent of the vote. The islands of Zanzibar are integrated into the United Republic's governmental and party structure, but the Zanzibar Government exercises considerable autonomy. The CCM won closely contested elections for the Zanzibar President and House of Representatives held in October 1995. International observers noted serious discrepancies during the vote. counting process, calling into question the re-election of C incumbent Dr. Salmin Amour Juma as Zanzibar's President. The police have primary responsibility for maintaining law, and order. They are supported by a variety of citizens' anticrime groups and patrols known as “Sungusungu.” The police regularly committed human rights abuses.
Agriculture provides 85 percent of employment. Cotton, coffee, sisal, tea, and gemstones account for most export earnings. The industrial sector is small. Economic reforms undertaken since 1986, including liberalization of agricultural policy, the privatization of state-owned enterprises, rescheduling of foreign debt payments, and freeing the currency exchange rate, have helped stimulate economic growth; however, poor fiscal management, and high inflation constrained economic growth.
A multiparty political system was introduced officially in 1992, and in 1995 for the first time in more than 30 years, citizens exercised their right to change their government through national elections for president and parliament. On October 29, the second multiparty national elections were held on the mainland and Zanzibar. On the mainland, international observers concluded that the elections were free and fair and conducted peacefully; however, in Zanzibar, the vote was marred by irregularities, voter intimidation and politically motivated violence. The incumbent President of the mainland, Benjamin Mkapa, was reelected with 71 percent of the vote. The ruling CCM party made significant gains in its majority in Parliament, winning 167 out of 181 seats. Opposition candidates gained 11 seats in 6 of the 19 mainland regions giving them a total of 14 seats on the mainland, and the CUF won 15 seats in Zanzibar. The CUF continued to refuse to recognize the election results in Zanzibar and to demand new elections, and CUF elected representatives are boycotting the union and Zanzibar parliaments.
The Constitution provides for the right of citizens to change their government. In recent elections, however, this right has been only partly respected. Although international observers considered the 1994 legislative elections to be generally free and fair, they found the 1993 presidential elections to be seriously flawed. Institutions created to ensure transparency in electoral procedures and to adjudicate election disputes, such as the National Electoral Commission and the Constitutional Court, are still not in place. Three legislative seats won by the opposition, then questionably invalidated by the Supreme Court's Constitutional Chamber in 1994, remain unfilled. There had been no significant progress toward setting by-elections.
Although the opposition majority in Parliament had on occasion shown independence, President Eyadema continued to dominate the Government. In 1994 Eyadema used a controversial interpretation of the Constitution to install Edem Kodjo, the leader of a minority opposition party, the UTD, as Prime Minister. While he demonstrated some independence from Eyadema — notably in successfully addressing the issue of refugees, agreement with the UNHCR and a less successful effort to open the phosphate parastatal to private investment — Eyadema continues to in fluence important ministerial nominations, and maintains a highly centralized government. The Government did not openly restrict the functioning of political oppo ments, but the President used the strength of the military and his government to intimidate and harass citizens and opposition groups. Eyadema also continued to influence the judiciary. The 9-month boycott of the National Assembly by the opposition majority CAR party limited the Parliament's ability to act independently of the president. The opposition returned to Parliament in August.
The Constitution provides for universal suffrage and a secret ballot. There are no legal restrictions on the participation of women or ethnic minority members in political activities. Although many women are members of associations and political parties, teachers' unions, and protest groups, there was only one female minister in government and one female deputy in the National Assembly. The 1995 Tanzanian elections included the October 22 local, House of Representatives and Presidential elections in Zanzibar, and the October 29 Union Presidential and Parliamentary elections (continued on November 19 in Dar es Salaam). Tanzania's first multiparty elections since 1961 took place on the 29 October 1995, with polling stations opening at 07:00 and closing at 16:00 in most places. According to the NEC [National Electoral Commission], 81% of the eligible voters registered to vote in the elections, and of the registered voters, 76.7% cast their ballots on polling day.
Parties contested two ballots during the polling: a proportionally elected presidential ticket, as well as constituency-based, winner takes all National Assembly ticket. Four parties put forward candidates for the Union's presidential nomination, and 13 parties contested some or all of the National Assembly seats. As expected, Benjamin Mkapa of the incumbent Chama Cha Mapinduzi won 61.8% of the presidential votes, with Augustino Mrema from NCCR-Maguezi party polling 27.8% of the votes. The National Assembly results highlighted one of the flaws with the constituency-based, winner-takes-all model used in the 1995 elections, with the CCM winning 59.22% of the proportional vote, but taking more than 80% of the National Assembly seats.
If one assumes that the votes cast for the Zanzibar House of Representatives and presidential races were correctly counted and reported, then the resulting picture is of a government completely dominated by a political party that won only a razor thin majority of the votes and a nearly complete exclusion of one of the two islands from a share of political power. If one assumes that the votes for the presidential race were incorrectly reported, then the resulting picture is even more negative: an inaugurated president who was not the choice of the majority of the voters and who should not have been declared the winner by the Electoral Commission. In either picture, there is a level of polarization, alienation, and mistrust that has been exacerbated rather than ameliorated by the 1995 multiparty electoral process.
Neither the National Electoral Commission of Tanzania nor the Zanzibar Electoral Commission was able to win the trust of the electorate. The deficiencies in administration and logistics that characterized the Union election and caused the Dar es Salaam polling to be canceled and rescheduled, were a blow to morale and confidence that the public, not unjustly, laid at the doorstep of the NEC. In Zanzibar, confidence in the ZEC was shaken early when the commission chose to have ballots printed in South Africa, and refused to allow public scrutiny of the process. Trust in the institution only eroded further after that.
The official results from Zanzibar and the inauguration of Salmin Amour as President are still being contested months after the election. Based on its own observations in Zanzibar at the time, IFES cannot with any degree of confidence conclude that the presidential election results as announced reflect the choice of voters at the polls. Delays in poll openings, missing tally sheets, discrepancies in vote tabulations and lack of cooperation by ZEC officials introduce more than reasonable doubt over the outcome. In Chapter VII of this report, both ZEC and opposition results are discussed. At this late date, when ballot papers and boxes have been stored or misplaced, a new election in Zanzibar may be the only way to get an accurate count and finally put suspicions and conjecture to rest.
In late 1996, following its loss in a by-election, the Government issued new directives limiting political activity and fund raising on the grounds of maintaining order.
These first national multiparty elections made clear the desire of the citizens of Tanzania to increase their political space and choose leaders from outside of the traditional single party structure. The number of voters who cast their ballots to this quest for participation and for change.
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