POLITICS IN TANZANIA

For the first time in 52 years of single-party rule since Tanzania won independence, the electorate faces real choices and the prospect of genuine change.

Three issues in particular loom large over the political scene: Who will succeed President Jakaya Kikwete within his own ruling party? What will become of the relationship between the mainland Tanganyika and the archipelago of Zanzibar? And how much of a challenge the opposition will offer in the forthcoming 2015 polls?

Although few observers expect the main opposition party Chadema to unseat the ruling CCM in the elections, the longest ruling party in Africa is likely to face its hardest test yet, reflecting strain on the structures that have kept it in power for so long.

“Chadema has a lot of support because people are tired,” says a businessman who follows politics closely. Chadema won 27 per cent of the presidential vote at the previous presidential election in 2010, the first significant showing by the opposition for 15 years.