Foreign aid and electoral politics in Tanzania 1995 to 2010

The re-introduction of multiparty politics in 1992 was a turning point in donors’ foreign aid allocation priorities in Tanzania national politics. At this juncture, direct intervention and involvement of donors’ in the country’s elections started to operate openly supporting the key actors in the electoral processes. This study sought to examine the existing relations between foreign aid and electoral politics in Tanzania. To analyse this enquiry, this work studied four general elections in Tanzania, that of 1995, 2000, 2005 and 2010. The role and influence of foreign aid on electoral politics was traced by focusing on the electoral process activities performed by recipient actors of donors’ aid, which were involved in the electoral processes. The examined electoral process activities were; management and administration of elections, dissemination of civic and voter’s education, monitoring and observation of elections and political parties’ involvement in the electoral process. Empirical evidence and findings of the study suggests that donors’ have a significant influence on how elections are conducted in Tanzania. The evidence shows that Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) are heavily dependent on donors’ assistance to carry out their activities in the electoral process. On the other hand, the government Electoral Management Bodies (EMBs) and political parties also significantly depend on donors’ assistance in order to effectively conduct elections management and administration, as well as for political parties to carry out successful elections campaigns. As a result, some of the important decisions made by both the government and other actors concerning the electoral process are highly informed and dictated by donors’ conditionalities. This practice influences the behaviour of the domestic electoral process actors (political parties, CSOs and the government EMBs) who in this sense acts as agents of neo-liberal agenda to the detriment of the country’s sovereignty. Based on the evidence this study came across, it is concluded that the realization of trustworthy electoral practices in Tanzania depends on authentic motives of the donors’ and recipient actors involved in the electoral processes.