Prisoners, detainees to vote

ZANZIBAR: AS Tanzania holds its 2025 General Election today, prisoners in Mainland Tanzania, students from correctional training institutions in Zanzibar and detainees are set to participate in the presidential vote for the first time, marking a historic milestone in the country’s electoral history.

The eligible to cast their presidential vote among them are those serving a sentence for a crime whose punishment does not exceed six months.

This was said by the chairperson of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Judge Jacobs Mwambegele while addressing the public in his statement ahead of today’s polls The move follows the implementation of the Presidential, Parliamentary and Councillors Election Act No 1 of 2024 which granted opportunity for prisoners, detainees and students of training institutions to exercise their constitutional right to vote.

This new law, which repealed the old 1985 election law, is the direct legal basis that allows these specific groups to vote for the president for the first time.

“For the first time, in accordance with Section 10(1) (c) of the revised election law, prisoners in Mainland Tanzania, students from correctional training institutions in Zanzibar serving sentences of not more than six months and remandees will be allowed to vote for the President,” said Justice Mwambegele.

According to him, 129 prison polling stations have been designated across Mainland Tanzania, along with 11 polling centres in correctional training institutions in Zanzibar to facilitate the exercise.

Mwambegele further said that polling stations in prisons and training institutions will open at 8:00 am and close at 3:00 pm.

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Additionally, under Article 5(3)(d) of the Constitution, read together with Section 42(6) of the Presidential, Parliamentary and Councillors Election Act No 1 of 2024, voters have been allowed to cast their presidential votes at polling stations other than those where they were originally registered.

He revealed that a total of 8,277 voters applied and were granted permission to vote for the President at alternative polling stations.

These reforms stem from the repeal of the 1985 Election Act and the enactment of the new Election Act No 1 of 2024, which introduced major reforms—among them, granting voting rights to prisoners serving sentences of six months or less.

Also, the new election law, under Section 42, empowers the Commission to establish arrangements for voters to cast presidential ballots outside their original registration area, although this does not apply to parliamentary or council elections.

In today’s General Election, a total of 37,647,235 registered voters are expected to cast their ballots—36,650,932 in Mainland Tanzania and 996,303 in Zanzibar. Of these, 18,950,801 are women (50.34 per cent) and 18,696,434 are men (49.66 per cent).