Examining party defections in Tanzania

This study examines party defections in Tanzania. With comparison from 1995 to 2015 general elections, there have been sudden variations of party defections in Tanzania. Party defections have been common in Tanzania’s politics since the transition from a single party system to a multiparty system in 1992. Between the 2000 and 2010 general elections, party defections were insignificant in Tanzania. However, the 2015 general elections came about with party defections as a prominent feature. This study explores the features of party defections in Tanzania specifically focusing on factors accounting for party defections, patterns of party defections and it also examines how the legal framework influences party defections in Tanzania. This study not only adopted the neo-institutionalist theory which analyses individual political actors within political institutions but also used the elite theory. As an explorative research, the study used the documentary review methodology, and the findings indicated that factors for party defections in Tanzania can be broadly categorized into either personal political ambitions or dissatisfaction with the nominating processes and outcomes within their parties. The study also established the patterns of party defections according to seasons, mechanisms and directions. The study further established that the legal framework in Tanzania addresses party defections through Section 37(1)b and 46(2) of the National Elections Act, 2010 Cap 343 that mandates the National Electoral Commission to call for by-elections when a constituency is vacant due to various reasons such as death and defections, to cite a few. Seven defecting Members of Parliament claimed that they defected in order to support the president’s efforts towards Tanzania’s development. However, this study concluded that after the 2015 general elections, party defections from the ruling party to opposition parties prevailed, mainly due to personal ambitions of individual politicians. The study also indicated that opposition parties have minimally benefited from the defections since 2015 after the general elections because nine of the defectors joined the ruling party and only one joined the opposition party. Therefore, this study mainly recommends a review of the Tanzanian legal framework pertaining to party defections. There is a need to monitor unprincipled defections from individual actors not only to safeguard representative democracy, but also to preserve national resources from repetitive by-elections resulting from party defections due to personal ambitions.