Tanzania sets elections for Oct 29

Tanzania will hold general elections on October 29, the country's electoral body said Saturday, even though the main opposition has been disqualified and its leader jailed.

The East African nation will go to the polls to elect its president, parliament and ward councillors, with candidates to be nominated between August 9 and 27.

"We call upon all election stakeholders to participate in the election and adhere to the laws and regulations," the Independent National Electoral Commission chairman Jacobs Mwambegele told a meeting of political figures in the capital Dodoma.

Elections were due to be held this October following the last vote in 2020.

The election commission disqualified the main opposition party, Chadema, earlier this year after it refused to sign an electoral code of conduct without reforms.

Its leader Tundu Lissu was jailed in April and is on trial for treason, which carries a potential death penalty.

Chadema accuses the government of President Samia Suluhu Hassan of repressing dissent, including the murder and kidnapping of opposition figures, and barring large numbers of their candidates from previous elections.