Tanzania's main opposition party calls election ban unconstitutional

DAR ES SALAAM (Reuters) - Tanzania's main opposition party CHADEMA said on Tuesday its disqualification from elections due later this year was unconstitutional, days after its leader was arrested and charged with treason.

CHADEMA failed to sign an election code of conduct document, making it ineligible to contest the presidential and parliamentary polls expected in October, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said on Saturday.

Party leader Tundu Lissu, who survived being shot 16 times in 2017, was charged with treason last week over what prosecutors said was a speech calling on the public to launch a rebellion and disrupt the election.

By charging Lissu with a capital offence and banning his party from contesting the elections the government is likely to draw further scrutiny to its rights record.

"A constitutional right cannot be taken away by a code of conduct created by the National Electoral Commission," said Rugemeleza Nshala, CHADEMA's Chief Attorney.

Reuters was not immediately able to reach the election commission's spokesperson for comment.

CHADEMA had previously threatened to boycott the elections unless significant reforms are made to an electoral process it says favours the ruling party.

"Our position is still the same: no reforms, no elections," Nshala said.

Rights campaigners and opposition parties have accused President Samia Suluhu Hassan's government of an intensifying crackdown on political opponents, citing a string of unexplained abductions and killings.

The government has denied the allegations and has opened an investigation into reported abductions.

(Reporting by Nairobi Newsroom; Writing by Hereward Holland; Editing by Ammu Kannampilly and Tomasz Janowski)