After 60 days of vigorous campaigns nationwide, Tanzanians are casting their ballots today to choose the next President of the United Republic, Members of Parliament and councillors.
With 17 presidential candidates to pick from, the ballot paper represents a wide menu of visions and promises on the country’s future.
As voters weigh their options, the spotlight falls on who these candidates are, what they have said on the campaign trail, and how they intend to reshape Tanzania if given the mandate.
Incumbent President Samia Suluhu Hassan of Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) has been asking voters to trust the continuity of her reform path.
She has urged citizens to build on the momentum achieved since she took over leadership in 2021, saying her administration opened space for dialogue, strengthened diplomacy and restored confidence among development partners.
She said at one of her rallies, ‘Our work has only just begun. We must finish what we started, ensuring water, health, education and jobs reach every household.’
She has promised to employ thousands of teachers and medical workers within the first 100 days and complete the national health insurance rollout that protects vulnerable groups without discrimination.
On governance, she has repeatedly said she believes in structured reconciliation, noting that ‘A nation moves forward when people talk, not when they shout at one another.’
Gombo Samandito Gombo of the Civic United Front (CUF) has taken a bold stance on social welfare and equality.
He has insisted public resources must directly lift citizens out of hardship. At a rally in Pemba, he proclaimed, ‘Education is a right, not a privilege. From nursery to university, every child will learn for free because Tanzania cannot afford to waste talent.’
His manifesto also announces universal free healthcare and a complete overhaul of the pension system.
He calls the current formula punitive, telling supporters, ‘A retiree should enjoy dignity, not debt.’
Mr Gombo also proposes guaranteed employment opportunities or government-backed self-employment initiatives for youth, with a single digital tax to simplify compliance and reduce corruption.
Kunje Ngombale Mwiru of AAFP emphasises constitutionalism and agricultural transformation.
He has framed governance failures as a problem of obedience rather than legal deficiency.
‘The Constitution is clear,’ he said, ‘but leaders bend the law to suit themselves. Under AAFP, government will obey the law without negotiation.’
His agricultural plan includes mechanisation, ward-level laboratories and timely distribution of seeds and fertilisers to end unreliable harvests.
He stresses equal land rights and insists women must be central to rural development, saying, ‘When a woman owns land, the whole family rises.’
NRA’ Hassan Almas of has kept a low-cost campaign centred on moral authority and peace.
He often reminds supporters that leadership must never come through chaos or intimidation.
‘God first, the people second, and the Commission third,’ he stated after submitting his nomination papers. Almas urges Tanzanians to prioritise harmony, adding, ‘No ambition is worth breaking this country’s peace.’
Coaster Kibonde of Chama Makini appeals strongly to struggling youth and families. His signature pledge, Care Makini, aims at universal health insurance fully funded by the State.
During a rally in Tabora he said, ‘Healthcare must not depend on the weight of your wallet but the beating of your heart.’
He promises every young person five acres for mechanised agriculture and the means to cultivate it, aiming to turn rural Tanzania into a centre of profitable agribusiness.
NLD’s Doyo Hassan Doyo has built his reputation as an austerity warrior.
He shocked many when he arrived to collect nomination forms in a bajaji, a symbolic gesture to reject state extravagance.
‘Leadership is not a luxury club,’ he told supporters.
He plans to auction high-end government vehicles immediately and cap spending on officials’ cars at Sh30 million, including for the presidency.
He also vows free maternal care and policy reform ensuring hospitals cannot retain bodies over unpaid bills. His refrain has been, ‘Every shilling saved must go to the people.’
Abdallah Kadege of UPDP has called land ownership the gateway to freedom and wealth, promising policies that enable every family to secure productive land.
He insists citizens cannot be empowered if bureaucracy or elites own everything. ‘The first capital of a poor person is land,’ he said. On media freedom, he added, ‘The press must reach and speak for those in the margins – even where there is no highway.’
Majaliwa Kyara of SAU has urged voters to consider the link between farming practices and public health.
He has argued strongly against heavy chemical inputs, warning that ‘We are feeding diseases to our children.’
Kyara also pushes for curriculum changes aligned to industrial employment and wants youth-driven industry clusters that supply national and regional markets.
David Mwaijojele of CCK has struck a chord among public servants with his pledge that all government workers should retire to the comfort of their own homes, financed through a combined contribution scheme.
‘A worker must leave service with dignity, not rent arrears,’ he told a rally in Iringa. He insists such a model will also free employment opportunities for younger Tanzanians waiting to enter the labour market.
Mazrui Alfphan of UMD proposes deeper decentralisation of education management.
He advocates for regional governments to run nurseries, primary and secondary schools while the Union prioritises universities and national industries.
Alfphan has said, ‘Regional empowerment means real accountability. Services improve when those responsible live with the people they serve.’
He imagines a revitalised National Service driving large-scale industrial production through youth skills programmes.
Wilson Elias Mulumbe of ADC has promised to restore public infrastructure and revive shuttered State industries that once powered the economy.
‘We are tired of investors who buy factories only to kill them,’ he declared.
He pledges free healthcare, free electricity connections and a complete renovation of police housing facilities.
His campaign is anchored in reversing what he sees as the damaging consequences of careless privatisation.
Haji Khamis of NCCR-Mageuzi has presented corruption as the single largest threat to Tanzania’s development.
He has accused successive leaders of ignoring damning findings by the Controller and Auditor General.
On stage in Tanga, he said, ‘CAG reports are not fairy tales, they are confessions of theft. Under my leadership, those names will not collect pensions, they will collect charges.’
Additionally, pledged legal frameworks ensuring factories give employment priority to local youth.
Salum Mwalimu of Chaumma speaks to workers who feel left behind by economic growth. He has vowed to increase the net minimum wage to Sh800,000 and restore discipline in public service.
‘Tanzanians are tired of leaders who remember problems only when they want votes,’ he told supporters.
His solution to food security is modernising agriculture and stabilising produce prices so farmers can earn predictably.
Saum Hussein Rashid of UDP has adopted a simple message: citizens must have cash in their pockets. She insists growth on paper does not change life unless wealth spreads to households.
‘Development must first be felt at home, in the money parents use to buy food and school items,’ she said during a rally in Mbeya.
She promises rapid expansion of agro-processing regions to ensure farmers profit, not struggle.
Yustas Mbatina Rwamugira of TLP focuses on economic reforms that make hospitals functional and sustainable.
He has argued that ‘A nation that cannot treat its sick cannot claim to be developing.’
He also promises access to three daily meals for every citizen and affordable credit for small entrepreneurs to lift grassroots commerce.
Abdul Juma Mluya of DP campaigns on strong social sector reforms, promising free childbirth services in every health facility and curriculum modernisation that prepares youth for a technology-driven world.
He insists, ‘The dignity of a nation begins with how it treats mothers and teachers.’ He has pledged better salaries and structured motivation for civil servants.
George Bussungu of ADA-TADEA brands his campaign as a digital revolution, claiming Tanzania must become a producer, not merely a consumer, of new technologies.
He declared, ‘If data is the new gold, then every Tanzanian must have a mine.’
He also pitches subsidised 20 kilogrammes of cooking gas per month for low-income families to cut household energy costs and protect forests.