- Samia wins 98% in disputed Tanzania election
- Protests erupt as observers flag transparency concerns
DAR ES SALAAM, TANZANIA – President Samia Suluhu Hassan has been declared the winner of Tanzania’s presidential election with 98% of the vote, amid deadly unrest and allegations of widespread fraud.
Electoral chief Jacobs Mwambegele said on Saturday that Samia, representing the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party, secured about 31.9 million votes out of nearly 32 million cast. Voter turnout reached 87% of the country’s 37.6 million registered voters.
“I hereby announce Samia Suluhu Hassan as the winner of the presidential election under the CCM party,” Mwambegele is reported to have said in a BBC report.
Opposition cries foul
International observers and opposition groups have raised alarm over the credibility of the vote, citing intimidation, ballot tampering and an internet shutdown that has made it difficult to verify the death toll from days of protests. Opposition officials said hundreds were killed or injured in clashes with security forces.
The Chadema opposition party told AFP that “around 700” people had been killed, while a diplomatic source cited by the BBC said at least 500 deaths were “credible.”
In contrast, Foreign Minister Mahmoud Kombo Thabit dismissed the reports as “isolated pockets of incidents” and insisted that “security forces acted very swiftly and decisively to address the situation.”
In Zanzibar, a semi-autonomous archipelago that elects its own leader, CCM’s Hussein Mwinyi won re-election with nearly 80% of the vote. The opposition, however, accused authorities of “massive fraud,” according to the Associated Press.
Protests continued in the port city of Dar es Salaam on Friday as demonstrators tore down campaign posters and clashed with police despite an army warning to cease. Although no demonstrations were reported on Saturday morning, security checkpoints remained across the capital as tensions persisted.
Global condemnation and calls for calm
The United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres, said he was “deeply concerned” about the escalating violence and urged “all parties to prevent further escalation.” The United Kingdom, Canada and Norway also issued a joint statement expressing alarm over “credible reports of a large number of fatalities and significant injuries.”
Human rights organisations including Amnesty International had earlier warned of “a wave of terror” marked by disappearances, torture and extrajudicial killings of opposition figures in the run-up to the polls. The government rejected the accusations, insisting the election was “free and fair.”
Samia, Tanzania’s first female president, first assumed office in 2021 after the death of her predecessor, John Magufuli. Her latest landslide victory extends the CCM’s unbroken rule since independence, continuing the party’s dominance over Tanzania’s political landscape.
