Why the INEC directive on alternative IDs is fully lawful

Josephine Christopher is a senior business journalist for The Citizen and Mwananchi newspapers

Mwananchi Communications Limitted

Dar es Salaam. The Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) directive allowing voters to use National IDs, passports or driver’s licenses is fully lawful under the National Elections Act [Cap 343 R.E. 2023], which empowers the Director of Elections to accept other official proof of identity.

On Tuesday, October 21, the Returning Officer for Mbeya Urban and Uyole constituencies, Anamary Mbunga, announced that voters whose names appear in the Permanent Voters’ Register (PVR) will be permitted to vote using a driver’s license, National ID (NIDA), or passport — provided that the name on the alternative document matches exactly with the one on the register.

The clarification, issued under the authority of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), was meant to ease anxiety among voters who lost their cards.

But it has instead sparked debate about the legal basis of the directive and whether it aligns with Tanzania’s electoral law.

While some have expressed confusion, questioning whether this move aligns with electoral laws, The Citizen’s close examination of Tanzania's legal framework reveals that the directive is not only permissible but firmly rooted in statute.

The specific section of The National Elections Act [Cap. 343 R.E. 2023] that allows a voter to use alternative identification (such as a NIDA card, passport, or driver’s license) if they have lost their voter’s card is: Section 19(2) —which states “…a presiding officer or polling assistant at any polling station shall not permit any person to vote at that polling station unless such person satisfies the presiding officer or as the case may be, a polling assistant, that he is the voter he claims to be by producing the voters card issued to such person or such other proof of identity as the Director of Elections may for the time being direct to be sufficient proof of identity of the person claiming to be entitled to vote.

The default ID for voting is the voter’s card. However, the law empowers the Director of Elections (NEC) to issue a directive allowing “other proof of identity” — meaning official documents such as: National ID (NIDA) Passport Driver’s License Or any other NEC-approved identification

Similarly, Section 78(3) (a) reinforces this during the voting procedure: “…every voter who wishes to vote shall present himself at the polling station allotted to him in the polling district for which he is registered, and shall satisfy the presiding officer or a polling assistant at such polling station that he is the voter he claims to be and that he has not voted already at such polling station or elsewhere and such person may satisfy the presiding officer or a polling assistant that he is the voter he claims to be by producing to that officer or a polling assistant a voter’s card or any other documentary evidence as the Director of Elections may direct;

Here, the emphasis on "any other documentary evidence" directed by INEC directly supports alternatives like NIDA cards, passports, or driver's licenses.