This is old news to close followers of Tanzanian politics, but I have just caught up with events.

For the first time, the ruling in party in Tanzania, Chama cha Mapinduzi (CCM), has lost a parliamentary by-election. In April it lost a seat to the opposition Chama cha Demokrasia na Maendeleo (Chadema) party. There is a report in Tanzanian Affairs. The next parliamentary elections are in 2015.

Perhaps more interestingly for the readers of this blog, there were attempts to hold a vote of no-confidence in the government. Tanzania is one of those case with a very strong president, which makes it very tempting to classify the country as purely presidential. However, there is collective cabinet responsibility and a PM. The highly presidentialised nature of the regime relies on the ruling party’s solid majority and the strong presidential powers in the constitution. This situation has not changed. However, the attempts to hold a no-confidence vote show the essential semi-presidential nature of the regime. The motion was proposed by Chadema. It was ruled out of order for procedural reasons. Again, there are details of the report in Tanzanian Affairs.