Tanzanian President Hassan wins disputed election : NPR

KAMPALA, Uganda — Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan won the country's disputed election with more than 97% of the vote, according to official results announced early Saturday, a rare landslide victory in the region.

Hassan appeared at an event in the administrative capital Dodoma to receive a winner's certificate from electoral authorities. In subsequent comments, she said the results showed Tanzanians voted overwhelmingly for a female leader.

After the election, “it's time to unite our country, not tear down what we've built over six decades,” she said. “We will take all actions and involve all security agencies to ensure peace in the country.”

Hassan came to power in 2021. As Vice President, she was automatically promoted when her predecessor John Pombe Magufuli died months after the start of his second term.

The result is likely to heighten concerns among critics, opposition groups and others who said Tanzania's election was not a contest but a coronation after Hassan's two main rivals were banned or prevented from running. She faced 16 candidates from smaller parties.

The October 29 elections were marred by violence as demonstrators took to the streets of major cities to protest the results of the vote and halt the counting of votes. The military was deployed to help police quell the unrest. The East African country experienced intermittent internet connectivity cuts, disrupting travel and other activities.

Protests spread across Tanzania and the government postponed the opening of universities, scheduled for November 3.

The streets of Dar es Salaam, the commercial capital, were tense on Saturday. The security forces manning the checkpoints asked to see identification cards of those who left.

Tanzanian authorities have not said how many people were killed or injured in the violence. U.N. Human Rights Office spokesman Seif Magango told a U.N. briefing in Geneva on Friday via video from Kenya that 10 deaths were credible reports in Dar es Salaam, as well as the cities of Shinyanga and Morogoro.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Friday he was concerned about the situation in Tanzania and called on all parties to “prevent further escalation”.

The foreign ministers of Britain, Canada and Norway in a joint statement cited “credible reports of large numbers of deaths and serious injuries as a result of the security forces' response to the protests.”

Tundu Lissu, leader of the Chadema opposition group, has been jailed for several months. accused of treason after he called for electoral reforms, which he said are a prerequisite for free and fair elections. Another opposition leader, Luhaga Mpina of the ACT-Wazalendo group, was suspended from participating in the elections.

At stake for the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi, or CCM, party was its decades-long power amid the rise of charismatic opposition figures who hoped to lead the country toward political change.

However, a landslide victory in the region has yet to be heard. Only President Paul Kagame, Rwanda's authoritarian leader, regularly wins by large margins.

Rights groups including Amnesty International warned of a pattern of enforced disappearances, arbitrary arrests and extrajudicial killings in Tanzania ahead of the elections.

In June, a group of UN human rights experts cited more than 200 cases of enforced disappearances since 2019, saying they were “alarmed by reports of crackdowns” ahead of the elections.

Hassan oversaw “unprecedented repression of political opponents,” the International Crisis Group said in its latest analysis. “The government is restricting freedom of expression, from banning X and restrictions on Tanzanian digital platform JamiiForums to suppressing critical voices through intimidation or arrest.”

The Tanzanian government's political maneuvering is remarkable even in a country where single-party rule has been the norm since the advent of multiparty politics in 1992.

Government critics say previous leaders tolerated opposition while maintaining a firm grip on power, while Hassan is accused of an authoritarian leadership style that challenges youth-led democratic movements in other parts of the region.

The CCM version of the ruling party, which maintains ties to the Chinese Communist Party, has ruled Tanzania since its independence from Britain in 1961, a streak that Hassan continues with his victory.

The JCC is merged with the state, is effectively responsible for the security apparatus, and is structured in such a way that new leaders emerge every five or 10 years.

Orderly changes within the CCM have long maintained Tanzania's reputation as an oasis of political stability and relative peace, which is a major reason for the party's significant support across the country, especially among rural voters.