Tanzania: 2000 Elections
Extracted from: Grant Masterson 2009 "Chapter 13: Tanzania and Zanzibar" IN Denis Kadima and Susan Booysen (eds) Compendium of Elections in Southern Africa 1989-2009: 20 Years of Multiparty Democracy, EISA, Johannesburg, 501-553.
The 29 October 2000 elections were contested by the same 13 political parties which contested the 1995 national elections, for the presidency, National Assembly and local government council seats. Several changes to the electoral landscape had been enacted since the 1995 elections, including a constitutional amendment passed in January 2000 which shifted the requirement for a president to secure a majority (50.1% of the proportional vote) to a plurality system (winner-takes-all), as well as an increase in the number of specially reserved seats for women to a minimum of 20% and maximum of 30% of the total seats. The National Assembly was divided into 280 seats for the 2000 elections, with a distribution of:
- 231 constituency seats, directly contested by the political parties (181 on the mainland and 50 in Zanzibar);
- 43 special seats reserved for women (20% of the total seats in parliament) ;
- 5 members elected by the Zanzibar House of Representatives; and
- ex officio member of the National Assembly, the Attorney-General of the Republic of Tanzania.
A total of 10 064 266 eligible voters registered to vote in the 2000 elections, which comprised an extremely high 98 per cent of the estimated voting age population eligible to register for the elections, causing some concerns amongst opposition political parties. Observers of the registration periods reported high levels of competence amongst the NEC staff, although there were also widespread reports of material shortages which impacted on the registrations of voters. Another problem identified during registration was the lack of adequate identification with which to assess the age of applicants, which meant that in some areas election officials were forced to resort to basic visual identification techniques to try to estimate the age of the applicant.
The CCM [Chama cha Mapinduzi - Party of Revolution] contested every constituency, with the CUF [Civic United Front - Chama cha Wananchi)] second in terms of contesting seats with 138 contesting candidates. The campaign period was peaceful, with the ruling party campaigning on President Mkapa's economic reforms and anti-corruption drive, whilst the opposition parties criticised the high levels of poverty, lack of basic infrastructure and relative underperformance of the economy in their campaigns. Mkapa was re-elected as president with 71.7% of the popular vote, and the CCM increased its control of the National Assembly, as well as its performance in proportional percentages to 65.19%, up from 59.22% in the 1995 elections (see Presidential results and National Assembly results).