ACTU : African Court on Human and People's Rights, Tanganyika Law Society, The Legal and Human Rights Centre & Reverend Christopher Mtikila v. The United Republic of Tanzania (June 14, 2013)

Catherine MAIA

On June 14, 2013, the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights, in its first judgment on the merits of a case, decided The Tanganyika Law Society, The Legal and Human Rights Centre & Reverend Christopher Mtikila v. The United Republic of Tanzania. The Applicants claimed that Tanzania, through certain Constitutional amendments, had "violated its citizens' right of freedom of association, the right to participate in public/governmental affairs and the right against discrimination by prohibiting independent candidates to contest Presidential, Parliamentary and Local Government elections." They also alleged that Tanzania "violated the rule of law by initiating a constitutional review process to settle an issue pending before the courts in Tanzania."

The Court found that the Tanzanian Constitutional requirement that any electoral candidate must be affiliated with a political party violates the African Charter's provisions on non-discrimination, freedom of association, and the right to participate in public affairs. The Court rejected the Applicants' argument on the rule of law issue, however, holding that the Applicants failed to show a violated right. The Court ordered the Government of Tanzania to make the appropriate constitutional adjustments and to report back to the Court. It also gave the Applicants thirty days to make submissions on the harm suffered by the violations so that it could make a separate ruling on reparation.

* Click here for judgment (approximately 58 pages) and click here for separate opinions (approximately 24 pages in total).

Source : ASIL