Strategic Intelligence Brief | Can Tanzania’s Ruling Party Stay United? Inside CCM’s High-Stakes 2025 Nomination Battles
Ujasusi Blog’s East Africa Monitoring Team | 🗓️11 July 2025 | 🕜0400 BST
Intense Competition in CCM’s 2025 Primaries
Under President Samia Suluhu Hassan, Tanzania’s ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) faces an unprecedentedly intense internal nomination season ahead of the October 2025 general elections. The party extended its primary nomination window to accommodate an “overwhelming number of aspirants”, with some constituencies seeing double or triple the contenders compared to 2020. Observers note that this election is the “first major test of CCM’s unity and adaptability” since Samia took office.
A diverse mix of contenders – from veteran legislators to youth activists and technocrats – are vying for CCM tickets, reflecting the high stakes involved. In certain areas, over 30 candidates are competing for a single parliamentary slot, a level of rivalry that has turned the primaries into a critical battleground for internal democracy. This spike in competition is fueled partly by CCM’s dominant position: with the main opposition party CHADEMA largely sidelined in 2025, winning the CCM nomination is seen as a virtual guarantee of election to Parliament (with all its perks and influence). The resulting scramble for nominations has created fierce contests within CCM, placing considerable strain on the party’s cohesion.