President Samia Suluhu Hassan’s historic rise as Tanzania’s first woman head of state broke a decades-old tradition of male dominance. In keeping with political precedent, she also became chairperson of the ruling Chama cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party. That made Hassan the first woman to hold this position.

For decades, women’s representation in Tanzania’s parliament has relied heavily on reserved quota seats rather than direct electoral success. With a woman as president, women’s rights organisations held high expectations for reforms that would dismantle systemic barriers to women’s political participation.

The reform priorities they championed included defined gender representation in party leadership. They also sought measures to address weaknesses associated with reserved seats. The quota system could be improved by introducing uniform nomination procedures, geographical accountability and term limits. Lobbyists also sought robust laws to end violence against women in elections.

Nine months into her tenure, Hassan established a taskforce to review Tanzania’s multiparty democratic framework. Among other things, its report made two important proposals to promote gender inclusion in political participation:

a requirement that no gender should constitute less than 40% of leadership positions within political parties

a mandate for all political parties to entrench equality and strengthen internal democracy.

The taskforce report crystallised in three key laws:

the Political Parties Amendment Act

the Presidential, Parliamentary and Councillors Elections Act

the Independent National Electoral Commission Act.

These new laws contained several positive developments. All political parties were required to implement gender and social inclusion policies. Gender-based violence was recognised as an electoral offence.

I am a legal scholar with a research interest in women’s political participation on the continent, both at the national level and within political parties. I was keen to assess how the reforms undertaken in 2024 would pan out in the 2025 elections.

My analysis of the 2025 election results shows that there were some minor gains. Women constituted 32.2% (558 out of 1,735) of parliamentary candidates in 2025, up from 23.3% in 2020. This suggests a modest expansion of women’s participation at the candidacy stage. But it also underscores the persistence of structural barriers to equal political competition, with men comprising 68% of parliamentary candidates.

However, the limited progress observed at the parliamentary level collapses sharply at the local level. Only 9.6% (700 out of 7,289) of candidates for local councils were women. This is an alarmingly low figure, given the importance of these positions for developing future leadership pipelines.

It’s my argument that the 2025 elections demonstrate that the presence of a woman at the helm, while symbolically powerful, does not necessarily translate into a gender-equitable electoral environment.

Reform gaps

Public participation was made a central part of the legislative process. This was a welcome shift from the previous administration’s approach in which most laws were passed under certificate of urgency. But the reforms glaringly failed to advance tangible progress.

Conspicuously missing were mandatory quotas for women’s representation across crucial spheres: party leadership, nomination lists, and electoral-management bodies.

Furthermore, there are no political-party financing mechanisms or public subsidies to women, youth, or persons with disabilities that would improve equity. The lack of exemptions from election deposits for marginalised groups further reinforced existing structural barriers to political participation.

The appointment procedures outlined in the Independent Electoral Commission Act offered no assurance of gender balance within the electoral management body’s composition.

What can be said for the reforms is that they strengthened accessibility measures for persons with disabilities and illiterate voters. Also significant was the expansion of the Independent Electoral Commission’s mandate to include local-government elections. This addressed long-standing demands to detach the local elections from ministerial influence.

A particularly significant change was the abolition of unopposed victories. All candidates, even in uncontested races, would now face a mandatory “Yes” or “No” vote. The abolition of unopposed victories removed a key mechanism through which electoral outcomes were previously engineered at the nomination stage.

Under the old system, party elites could secure automatic wins by blocking or pressuring rivals – often women aspirants – out of the race. This often left more influential candidates to be declared elected without voter input. Requiring a mandatory “Yes” or “No” vote reintroduced voter scrutiny, reduced the incentive to manipulate nominations, and limited the use of procedural exclusion to sideline women candidates.

Political parties as gendered gatekeepers

My analysis of party practices towards the 2025 general elections shows that these limitations in national law found parallels in political-party practices. In January 2025, Chama Cha Demokrasia na Maendeleo (Chadema)’s internal elections resulted in all top positions being retained by men. This continued a trend dating back to 1992.

Chadema’s “No Reform, No Elections” stance led to its controversial exclusion from the 2025 polls. Its absence carried gendered implications, given the party’s consistent record of fielding a higher number of female candidates than other parties.

In 2020, Chadema fielded 58 women candidates, compared to CCM’s 24. While all CCM women candidates reportedly won their seats, only one Chadema woman did so. Chadema’s absence in the 2025 elections therefore reduced the overall pool of female aspirants.

At ACT-Wazalendo, the party’s Dorothy Semu was sidelined in favour of Luhaga Mpina for the presidential race. Mpina, a CCM defector, was then barred from contesting due to legal and procedural battles.

Against this backdrop, CCM appointed Asha Rose Migiro as its first female party general secretary, a milestone in a wider context of political manoeuvring.

Women as candidates

Women were represented as presidential candidates (18%) and as running mates (53%). The United Movement for Democracy became the first party in Tanzanian history to field women for both executive positions. For the first time, Zanzibar featured women, Laila Rajab Khamis, Isha Salim Hamad and Naima Salum Hamad, on the presidential ballot.

There were 272 elective parliamentary seats in 2025. This translates to 115 reserved seats for women. The 155 are joined by 36 women elected from constituencies. The representation of 39.5% is an improvement over the 2020 election outcome of 37.5%.

The 2025 national elections unfolded amid nationwide demonstrations which prompted a curfew in the capital and a nationwide internet shutdown. President Hassan was announced to have received 97.6% of the votes and was sworn in. However, both the Southern African Development Community and African Union missions reported that the elections fell short of regional standards for democratic and inclusive processes.

Opposition sources and later the government reported widespread electoral violence that led to death and destruction of properties.

Symbolism without structural change

The results of this election show that Tanzania is yet to address the structural challenges associated with women’s reserved seats.

For real change to occur, high-level representation must be accompanied by deep structural reforms. These include:

mandatory party quotas within political party leadership structures and candidate lists

gender quotas in the composition of Independent National Electoral Commission

a proportional representation electoral system

equitable resourcing for women aspirants and candidates

allowing independent candidacy

a mindset shift that challenges societal biases and affirms women’s leadership among citizens and electoral stakeholders.

The political commitment for substantive gender equality must go above merely numerical representation.