Staff Reporter

Tanzania’s electoral commission has announced that it has disqualified Luhaga Joelson Mpina, the presidential candidate for the country’s second-largest opposition party, the Alliance for Change and Transparency (ACT-Wazalendo).

The decision effectively clears the path for incumbent President Samia Suluhu Hassan of the ruling Party of Revolution, who now faces only minor party opposition in the upcoming October 29 election.

The National Electoral Commission (NEC) announced that it accepted an objection filed by Attorney General Hamza Saidi Johari against Mpina’s nomination.

This ruling follows a previous attempt to disqualify Mpina by the Office of the Registrar of Political Parties, which was successfully challenged in court by the ACT-Wazalendo candidate just four days prior.

In a statement, the NEC said it had accepted the objection submitted by Mr. Hamza Saidi Johari, Attorney General, against the nomination of Mr. Luhaga Joelson Mpina as a candidate for the presidency.

ACT-Wazalendo has condemned the disqualification as baseless and politically-motivated.

The party said it would formally challenge President Hassan’s own nomination, an objection the electoral commission rejected.