General Right to Vote
Constitution
(1977, last amended 2005)

• Section 5, subsection (1) states, “Every citizen of the United Republic who has attained the age of eighteen years is entitled to vote in any election held in Tanzania...”

Electoral Act
Elections Act
(1977, last amended 2005)

• Section 10 states, “Every citizen of Tanzania who has attained the age of eighteen years shall, unless he is disqualified by this or any other Act, be entitled to be registered under and in accordance with the provisions of this Act as a voter.”

Exclusion Based on Mental Disability
Constitution
(1977, last amended 2005)

• Section 5, subsection (2) states, “Parliament may enact a law imposing conditions restricting a citizen from exercising the right to vote by reason of any of the following grounds...(b) being mentally infirm.”
• Section 67, subsection (2) excludes from being a Member of Parliament those who, “(b) in accordance with a law applicable in the United Republic it has been formally certified that such person is of unsound mind.”

Electoral Law
Elections Act
(1985, last amended 2005)

• Section 11, subsection (1) states, “No person shall be qualified for registration as a voter or shall be registered under this Act...(b) if under any law in force in Tanzania, he is adjudged or otherwise declared to be of unsound mind or is detained as a criminal lunatic or during the pleasure of the President...”

Local Authorities (Elections) Act
(1979)

• Section 16, subsection (1) repeats section 11, subsection (1) of the Elections Act.

Exclusion Based on Physical Disability
Constitution
(1977, last amended 2005)

• Section 67, subsection (1) states, “Subject to the provisions contained in this Article, any person shall be qualified for appointment as a Member of Parliament if he...(a) is a citizen of the United Republic who has attained the age of twenty-one years and who can read and write in Kiswahili or English”

Voter Assistance by Other Citizens
Electoral Law
Elections Act
(1985, last amended 2005)

• Section 61, subsection (h) states, “If a voter is incapacitated by blindness or other physical cause, or is unable to read, he may call the presiding officer aside, and shall tell him, no other person being present or within hearing, the name of the candidate for whom he wishes to vote, and the presiding officer shall mark the ballot paper accordingly and shall, in the presence of the voter, place the ballot paper in the ballot box and every ballot paper marked in accordance with this paragraph shall be deemed to have been marked by the voter in accordance with paragraph (e).”
• Section 61, subsection (i) states, “If a voter is illiterate or does not understand how to record his vote the presiding officer may, in the presence of the polling agent explain to the voter the procedure.”

The Elections (Presidential and Parliamentary Elections) Regulations, 2010
(2010)

• Section 53 states, “Without prejudice to the provisions of the Act, where a blind voter wants to vote at any election and upon satisfaction of the Presiding officer or polling assistant that the blind voter’s name appears in the register and that the voter has been assigned to vote at such polling station and if the voter requests, insert a ballot paper into the tactile ballot folder and deliver to such voter.”

The Local Authorities (Elections) Act
(1979)

• Section 62, subsections (h) and (i) repeat section 61, subsections (h) and (i) of the Elections Act.

• Constitution - http://www.judiciary.go.tz/downloads/constitution.pdf
• Elections Act, 1985 - http://www.parliament.go.tz/Polis/PAMS/Docs/1-1985.pdf
• Elections Act, Amending Acts - http://www.parliament.go.tz/Polis/PAMS/Docs/3-2005.pdf
• Elections Regulations - http://aceproject.org/ero-en/regions/africa/TZ/tanzania-election-regulationa-2010-undp-tanzania/view
• The Local Authorities (Elections) Act - http://www.bunge.go.tz/Polis/PAMS/Docs/4-1979.pdf