CCM candidate John Magufuli and Ukawa coalition candidate Edward Lowassa. Photo illustration
The people say they want better healthcare, access to clean water and improved education.
The politicians are promising education, a crackdown on corruption and agricultural incentives.
Opposition coalition candidate Edward Lowassa, 62, says Tanzania has enough resources to offer free education from kindergarten to university.
Ruling party candidate John Magufuli, 55, is also on the education bandwagon, but has only promised free education from kindergarten through to secondary school (form 4.)
Magufuli also says he’ll crack down on corruption by establishing a special court which he says will make Tanzania a better place for the majority of it’s ‘less-powerful’ citizens.
Lowassa says if he’s elected he’ll launch a special task force to fight corruption within the first 100 days in office.
Both candidates are also pushing agriculture, which only five percent of Tanzanians say is a ‘serious problem’ in a recent ‘let the people speak’ poll by Twaweza.
Furthermore, Lowassa has also promised to abolish all taxes for farmers.
Twaweza’s poll shows that the majority of people don’t believe the promises made by politicians will be enacted: nearly nine out of ten people say their Member of Parliament implemented ‘few to none’ of their campaign promises.
But the numbers are a bit perplexing: in the last presidential election in 2010, only 43 percent of registered voters actually voted, however when polled 79 percent say they did.
For this election 99 percent of people say they’ll be voting despite only 98 percent saying they’ve signed up as voters and only 57 percent know the election date.
It’s October 25, 2015.
Read more: Election: who are the key players?
