Tanzanian President Hassan wins disputed election : NPR

Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan cast her vote on Wednesday at a polling station in Dodoma, Tanzania.

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

Hassan appeared at an event in the administrative capital, Dodoma, to receive the winner’s certificate from electoral authorities. In her later remarks, she said the result showed Tanzanians had voted overwhelmingly for a female leader.

After the elections, “it is time to unite our country and not destroy what we have built for more than six decades,” she said. “We will take all necessary measures and involve all security agencies to ensure peace in the country.”

Hassan took power in 2021. As vice president, she was automatically elevated when her predecessor, John Pombe Magufuli, died a few months into his second term.

The result is likely to amplify 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 excluded or prevented from running. She faced 16 candidates from small parties.

The October 29 elections were marked by violence as demonstrators took to the streets of major cities to protest the vote and prevent the vote count. The army was deployed to help police quell the riots. Internet connectivity has been intermittent in the East African country, disrupting travel and other activities.

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

A tense calm reigned on Saturday in the streets of Dar es Salaam, the commercial capital. Security forces manning roadblocks demanded to see the identity cards of those leaving.

Tanzanian authorities have not said how many people were killed or injured in the violence. A spokesperson for the UN human rights office, Seif Magango, told a UN press briefing in Geneva on Friday, via video from Kenya, that credible reports of 10 deaths had been reported in Dar es Salaam, alongside the towns of Shinyanga and Morogoro.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Friday he was concerned about the situation in Tanzania and urged all parties to “avoid further escalation.”

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

Tundu Lissu, leader of the Chadema opposition group, was jailed for months, accused of treason after calling for electoral reforms that he said were a prerequisite for free and fair elections. Another opposition figure, Luhaga Mpina, from the ACT-Wazalendo group, was not allowed to run.

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

However, a crushing victory is unheard of in the region. Only President Paul Kagame, Rwanda’s authoritarian leader, consistently wins by a landslide.

Rights groups including Amnesty International have warned of a trend of enforced disappearances, arbitrary arrests and extrajudicial killings in Tanzania in the run-up to elections.

In June, a group of United Nations human rights experts cited more than 200 cases of enforced disappearances since 2019, saying they were “alarmed by reports of a trend toward repression” in the run-up to the elections.

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

The political maneuvers of the Tanzanian authorities are remarkable, even in a country where one-party rule has been the norm since the advent of multi-party politics in 1992.

Critics of the government point out that previous leaders tolerated opposition while firmly maintaining their grip on power, while Hassan is accused of ruling with an authoritarian style that challenges youth-led democratic movements elsewhere in the region.

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

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

Orderly transitions within the CCM have long maintained Tanzania’s reputation as an oasis of political stability and relative peace, a major reason for the party’s considerable support across the country, particularly among rural voters.