Samia Suluhu Hassan wins 98% of vote amid 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.
Samia won 98% of the vote, nearly crushing the 32 million votes cast in Wednesday’s election, according to the electoral commission.
International observers have expressed concern over the lack of transparency and widespread unrest, which reportedly left hundreds dead and hundreds injured.
Nationwide internet shutdowns make it difficult to confirm the death toll. The government tried to downplay the extent of the violence, and authorities extended the curfew in an attempt to quell the unrest.
“I hereby declare Samia Suluhu Hassan as the winner of the presidential election led by the Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party,” election chief Jacobs Mwambegele said while announcing the results on Saturday morning. he said.
In Tanzania’s semi-autonomous archipelago of Zanzibar, which elects its own government and leader, the incumbent president, CCM’s Hussein Mwinyi, won with nearly 80% of the vote.
According to the AP news agency, the opposition in Zanzibar said there was a “huge fraud”.
Protests continued on Friday, with demonstrators in the port city of Dar es Salaam and other cities taking to the streets, tearing down posters of Samia and attacking police and polling stations despite warnings from the army chief to end the unrest.
The demonstrations are mostly led by young protesters who say the election was unfair.
They accuse the government of undermining democracy by repressing main opposition leaders; One is in prison and the other was excluded on technical grounds.
A spokesman for the opposition Chadema party told the AFP news agency on Friday that “about 700” people had been killed in clashes with security forces, while a diplomatic source in Tanzania told the BBC there was credible evidence that at least 500 people had died.
Foreign Minister Mahmud Kombo Sabit described the violence as “a few isolated incidents here and there” and said that “security forces moved very quickly and decisively to intervene in the situation”.
The opposition had two main candidates: Tundu Lissu, who was detained on treason charges and which he rejected, and Luhaga Mpina of the ACT-Wazalendo party, but was excluded due to legal technicalities.
16 fringe parties, none of which had historically significant popular support, were allowed to run.
Samia’s ruling party, CCM, has dominated the country’s politics and has not lost an election since independence.
Ahead of the election, human rights groups condemned government repression; Amnesty International cited a “wave of terrorism” that included enforced disappearances, torture and extrajudicial killings of opposition figures.
The government denied the allegations and officials said the election would be free and fair.
Samia took office as Tanzania’s first female president in 2021, following the death of President John Magufuli.
