Tanzania President Samia wins again, bags 98% votes; hundreds feared dead in election unrest

President Samia Suluhu Hassan has been declared the winner of Tanzania’s presidential election, securing another term in office amid days of unrest across the country. According to the electoral commission, Samia won 98% of the votes, nearly sweeping the 32 million ballots cast in Wednesday’s election. “I hereby announce Samia Suluhu Hassan as the winner of the presidential election under the Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party,” Jacobs Mwambegele, the electoral chief, said while announcing the results on Saturday morning. Samia secured about 31.9 million votes, or 97.66% of the total, with turnout nearing 87% of the country’s 37.6 million registered voters, the electoral chief said.

Samia’s ruling party, CCM, and its predecessor, Tanu, have dominated the country’s politics and have never lost an election since independence.

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Observers express concern over lack of transparency, widespread turmoil

However, international observers have expressed concern over the lack of transparency and widespread turmoil that has reportedly left hundreds of people dead and hundreds injured. Moreover, an internet shutdown across the nation is making it difficult to verify the death toll. The government is playing down the scale of violence, and authorities have extended curfew to quell the unrest.

UN chief Antonio Guterres said he was “deeply concerned” about the situation in Tanzania, “including reports of deaths and injuries during the demonstrations”. He urged all parties involved to “prevent further escalation”.

The UK, Canada, and Norway also expressed concerns, citing “credible reports of a large number of fatalities and significant injuries as a result of the security response to protests”.

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Foreign Minister Mahmoud Kombo Thabit downplayed the violence as a “few isolated pockets of incidents here and there” and said “security forces acted very swiftly and decisively to address the situation”.

Main contenders pushed out of presidential race

There were two main opposition contenders, including Tundu Lissu, who is being held on treason charges he denies, and Luhaga Mpina of the ACT-Wazalendo Party, but he was excluded on legal technicalities. Sixteen fringe parties, none of whom ever had any significant public support, were allowed to run.

Ahead of the election, rights groups condemned government repression, while Amnesty International cited a “wave of terror” involving enforced disappearances, torture, and extrajudicial killings of opposition figures.

Samia came into office in 2021 as Tanzania’s first female president after the death of President John Magufuli.

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In protests on Friday, demonstrators in the port city of Dar es Salaam and other cities tore up Samia’s posters and attacked police and polling stations despite warnings from the army chief.

The demonstrations are mostly led by young protesters, who have denounced the election as unfair. They accuse the government of undermining democracy by suppressing the main opposition leaders.

The spokesperson of the opposition Chadema party told AFP on Friday that “around 700” people had been killed in clashes with security forces.

In Tanzania’s semi-autonomous archipelago of Zanzibar, which elects its own government and leader, CCM’s Hussein Mwinyi, who is the incumbent president, won with nearly 80% of the vote. The opposition in Zanzibar said there had been “massive fraud”.

The government dismissed the opposition’s death toll as “hugely exaggerated” and has rejected criticism of its human rights record.