General elections were held in Tanzania on 25 October 2015. Voters elected the president, members of Parliament, and local government councillors. By convention, the election was held on the last Sunday of October and was supervised by the National Electoral Commission (NEC). Political campaigns commenced on 22 August and ceased a day before the elections.
The incumbent president, Jakaya Kikwete, had served out two terms, the maximum allowed under the law, and was ineligible to run for a third term. Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM), the country's dominant ruling party, selected Works Minister John Magufuli as its presidential nominee instead of the front-runner, former Prime Minister Edward Lowassa. After failing to secure the CCM's nomination, Lowassa defected to the opposition Chadema party despite it once labelling him as "one of the most corrupt figures in Tanzanian society". This year's election was seen as the most competitive and unpredictable in the nation's history.
The government had warned politicians to refrain from engaging in witchcraft, and a deputy minister told parliament that reports linking politicians with the killings of people with albinism could be true as it increases during the election period. A ban on witch doctors was imposed in January 2015, as some of them condone the killings due to superstitious beliefs that the victims' bodies "possess powers that bring luck and prosperity".
On 29 October, CCM's Magufuli was declared the winner of the presidential election ahead of Chadema's Lowassa, who has yet to concede amid a dispute. In the National Assembly election, the CCM maintained its supermajority in parliament, but key figures in the previous cabinet suffered defeats in their constituencies, while the opposition Chadema party secured its largest-yet number of seats.
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