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% 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.
The nationwide internet shutdown is making it difficult to verify the situation on the ground .
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.
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% of the total, with turnout nearing 87% 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% of the vote.
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 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.
The demonstrations are mostly led by young protesters, who have denounced the election as unfair.
Foreign Minister Mahmoud Kombo Thabit has described the violence as a “few isolated pockets of incidents here and there” and said “security forces acted very swiftly and decisively to address the situation”.
Sixteen fringe parties, none of whom have historically had significant public support, were allowed to run.
Samia’s ruling party Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM), and its predecessor Tanu, have dominated the country’s politics and have never lost an election since independence.
Samia came into office in 2021 as Tanzania’s first female president following the death of President John Magufuli.
