Petition against the constitutional validity of section 44 of the National Elections Act, Cap. 343 and sections 45(5) and 13(7) of the Local Government (Elections) Act, Cap. 292

On 29th July 2021, Legal and Human Rights filed a case a Miscellaneous Civil Cause No. 19 Of 2021 before The High Court of Tanzania. The petition challenged the constitutional validity of provisions in the National Elections Act and the Local Government (Elections) Act. These Provisions allowed candidates running for member of parliament and councillors to be declared victors if there was no opposition. The provisions motivated a countrywide trend of scrutinizing forms of applicants for the contested positions with intention of finding trivial errors which lead to mass disqualification and resulted to elections in many areas not conducted altogether, instead candidates were declared winners and certified to represent the constituency and the ward respectively.

On 29 March 2023 the High Court of Tanzania in that matter brought before it, declared the provisions which legally sanctioned such erroneous practice to be offensive to Article 21 of the Constitution of United Republic of Tanzania and therefore null and void and proceeded to strike out the provisions from the statute book immediately.

The success of this case has reinstated the right of participation in elections and rights of electing or being elected in positions of governance of the country, which was curtailed by directly certifying contenders of election without holding a free and fair election. In this case, LHRC collaborated with the petitioner and incredibly talented group of advocates to see the best outcome in the sphere of good governance.