The politics of election administration in Tanzania under multipartism: the case of 2000 general elections.
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Date
2002
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Publisher
University of Dar es Salaam
Abstract
This study is about the election administration in Tanzania. It specifically examines the domestic political factors that contributed to the maladministration of the union parliamentary elections in the year 2000. Drawing on interviews with central players and election reports and documents, the study demonstrates that the electoral laws had a lot of loopholes and unfair limits, resulting into electoral malpractices, especially in the registration and campaign processes as well as unfair competition. Relatedly, some legal provisions were unfair and that hampered the enforcement of other rules, including the rules against cheating and administrative unaccountability. The study's findings further indicate that the political influence of the government officials affected negatively the administration of elections. It is also revealed that the election managers in the constituencies had divided accountability and loyalties and that jeopardized their impartiality and autonomy. The study demonstrates further that majority of citizens were readily manipulatable and usable by unscrupulous candidates and their constituency backers. The low level of citizens' civic competence is largely attributed to lack of national strategy for promoting civic education and the organisational weaknesses of Tanzania's political parties. Relatedly, most citizens behaved in such a way that they were unaware of their voting rights and obligations or unwilling to take appropriate measures that would discourage electoral malpractices. In this study, several recommendations are given. These include: the need for subjecting unopposed candidates to voters' verdict; urgent need for a voter register: the need for more comprehensive review of electoral laws and the United Republic Constitution rules; the need for a national strategy for promoting civic education and the need for establishing permanent secretariats of NEC at national, zonal and regional levels.
Description
Available in print form
Keywords
Election, Law and legislation, Tanzania, Politics and Government, Multipartism
Citation
Ally, B. (2002) The politics of election administration in Tanzania under multipartism: the case of 2000 general elections, Masters dissertation, University of Dar es Salaam. Available at (http://41.86.178.3/internetserver3.1.2/detail.aspx)