DODOMA: THERE is no any non-citizen of Tanzania who will be allowed to participate in Local Government Election scheduled for this month and the General Election slated for next year, the House was informed here yesterday.
Deputy Minister for Home Affairs, Daniel Sillo gave an assurance in parliament when responding to a main question posed by Mbogwe legislator, Henry Nicodemas who had sought to know how the government was well prepared to control aliens from participating in local poll and General Election.
Responding, Mr Sillo noted that as per the country’s laws, only Tanzanian citizens have the right to participate in both civic election and General Election by either voting or getting voted for.
Elections in Tanzania are guided by the Presidential, Parliamentary and Councillors Elections Act, 2024 and the Local Government (Urban Authorities Act, 2024 and supervised by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the President’s Office, Regional Administration and Local Government (PO-RALG) respectively.
“In supervision of all moments during elections, the government has always intensified civic education to all administrators (voter listing and returning officers) in efforts to ensure that only Tanzanian citizens participate in the elections and not otherwise, insisted the deputy minister.
“Also, Mr Sillo added, in an event there are questionable issues over a non-citizen listing to vote or picking up nomination form to be voted for, such a person ought to be disqualified including instituting serious legal steps as well as taking him/her to a court of law.
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Tanzania expects to conduct its much-awaited civic polls on November 27, 2024 when they elect their street and village leaders.
This year, a total of 346,201 positions are contested in the civic elections, including 12,333 village chairpersons and 4,269 street chairpersons.
This makes it the largest democratic exercise not only in Tanzania but also in the region (SADC and EAC), with no other country holding such a vast number of contested posts on a single election day.
