Tanzania president wins election as hundreds feared dead in unrest
President Samia Suluhu Hassan has been declared the winner of Tanzania’s presidential election, securing another term amid days of unrest across the country.
Samia won 98 per cent of the votes in Wednesday’s poll, the electoral commission said. In her Saturday victory speech she said the election was “free and democratic”, accusing protesters of being “unpatriotic”.
Opposition parties rejected the results, calling the vote a mockery of the democratic process as Samia’s main challengers had been either imprisoned or barred from running.
International observers have expressed concern over the lack of transparency and widespread turmoil that has reportedly left hundreds of people dead and injured.
The nationwide internet shutdown is making it difficult to verify the death toll. The government has sought to play down the scale of the violence — and authorities have extended a curfew in a bid to quell the unrest.
A coronation, not a contest — Tanzania’s first female president faces little opposition.
Why Samia’s hesitant reforms are fuelling Tanzanian political anger.
Receiving her victory certificate on Saturday, Samia, 65, said: “We thank the security forces for ensuring that the violence did not stop voting. The government strongly condemns the violent incidents. These incidents were not patriotic at all,” she said.
Earlier on Saturday, electoral commission chief Jacobs Mwambegele declared Samia “the winner of the presidential election”.
Samia secured about 31.9 million votes, or 97.66 per cent of the total, with turnout nearing 87 per cent of the country’s 37.6 million registered voters, the electoral chief said.
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 per cent of the vote.
The opposition in Zanzibar said there had been “massive fraud”, the AP news agency reported.
No protests were reported on Saturday morning, but tension remained high in Dar es Salaam, where security forces manned roadblocks across the port city.
On Friday, demonstrators in Dar es Salaam and other cities took to the streets, tearing down Samia’s posters and attacking police and polling stations despite warnings from the army chief to end the unrest.
— BBC
🔗 Follow Ghanaian Times WhatsApp Channel today. https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VbAjG7g3gvWajUAEX12Q
🌍 Trusted News. Real Stories. Anytime, Anywhere.
✅ Join our WhatsApp Channel now! https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VbAjG7g3gvWajUAEX12Q
