 "Hassan secures win with 98% votes in Tanzania’s 'disputed election' amid violent protests")
President Samia Suluhu Hassan has won Tanzania’s “disputed election” with nearly 98 per cent of the vote, securing another five-year term after days of violent unrest across the country.
The electoral commission said Samia, who leads the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party, received about 31.9 million votes out of the 32 million cast, with voter turnout close to 87 per cent.
The landslide victory came amid a tense atmosphere, following protests over alleged fraud and the exclusion of key opposition candidates. International observers have raised concerns about transparency and human rights violations surrounding the vote.
Protests erupted in major cities, including Dar es Salaam, where demonstrators tore down campaign posters and clashed with police. Security forces responded with teargas and gunfire, and a nationwide internet shutdown has made it difficult to verify casualty figures.
The opposition Chadema party claimed that around 700 people were killed in clashes, while diplomatic sources estimated at least 500 deaths. The UN, the UK, Canada, and Norway expressed concern over reports of killings and injuries, urging calm. The government has denied the higher death toll, calling the violence “isolated incidents.”
The unrest was fuelled by anger over the disqualification of opposition leaders. Tundu Lissu of Chadema remains jailed on treason charges, while ACT-Wazalendo leader Luhaga Mpina was barred from contesting. Sixteen minor candidates were allowed to run but posed no real challenge to the ruling party, which has held power since independence.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsIn Zanzibar, CCM’s Hussein Mwinyi won re-election with nearly 80 per cent of the vote, though opposition groups alleged “massive fraud.”
Rights groups, including Amnesty International, accused the government of a “wave of repression” marked by disappearances, arrests, and extrajudicial killings before the polls. A UN panel earlier this year documented more than 200 disappearances since 2019.
Samia, Tanzania’s first female president, came to power in 2021 after the death of President John Magufuli. Her sweeping victory, though expected, is unusually large even for East Africa — a margin seen only in authoritarian regimes like Rwanda under Paul Kagame.
(With inputs from Reuters, AP, AFP)
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