Tanzania's mainland election is a done deal, but the ACT-Wazalendo opposition is giving the ruling CCM a real fight in Zanzibar.

Zanzibaries are voting in general elections on Tuesday and Wednesday, 28 and 29 October 2025, with the odds heavily stacked against the opposition by an electoral commission under the control of the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party, says the main opposition party ACT-Wazalendo.

Nevertheless a fierce contest is expected on the island -- unlike mainland Tanzania, where the election of the incumbent President Samia Suluhu Hassan is considered a mere formality.

The two main opposition presidential contenders were knocked out of the race on the mainland even before it began. Tundu Lissu, leader of the largest opposition party Chadema, is in jail on treason charges and Luhaga Mpina, the candidate of ACT-Wazalendo, the second-largest party, has been disqualified by the electoral commission "in a manner which has clearly been orchestrated and which is inconsistent with the law", the party says.

This leaves Samia facing only smaller opposition parties like Chaumma and CUF in the race, which have no realistic chance of beating her. This is her first election as she was deputy president when then president John Magufuli...