At the invitation by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Ministry) and East African Cooperation (EAC) of the United Republic of Tanzania (URT) dated 17 August 2025, the Forum deployed a short-term Election Observer Mission (EOM) to the General Elections of the URT held on 28th and 29th October 2025. The Mission was led by Mr. Mosotho Moepya, the Chairperson of the Electoral Commission of South Africa. The Mission had 22 members from eight (8) electoral commissions namely, IEC-Botswana, EBC-Eswatini, IEC-Lesotho, EC-Namibia, CNE-Mozambique, EC-Malawi, IEC South-Africa, and EC Zambia.
The Mission arrived on 20 October 2025 and departed on 2 November 2025. Observer teams were deployed on 26 September 2025 to observe elections in the various regions of both mainland Tanzania and Zanzibar. During their deployment, the teams observed the concluding phases of the election campaigns, conducted pre-poll assessments to evaluate the preparedness of the INEC and ZEC, and subsequently observed special voting in Zanzibar and some Election Day proceedings across both jurisdictions. The Mission could not observe the post-election processes, the details of which will be dealt later in this report.
