Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan declared the winner of the country’s disputed presidential election with 97.66 percent of the vote, in what many critics described as an election where Samia Suluhu effectively ran against Samia Suluhu.
The electoral commission announced her overwhelming victory across every constituency after her strongest rivals were jailed, barred or disappeared long before election day. A swearing-in ceremony was scheduled even as unrest swept across the country.
The election marked one of the most politically charged and explosive moments since Tanzania’s independence in 1961. Though the ruling CCM party has long dominated national politics, observers said Samia Suluhu went further than any of her predecessors in closing political space and silencing the opposition. Analysts argued she crossed authoritarian lines once considered unthinkable in Tanzania.
Her main challenger, Tundu Lissu, had been placed on trial for treason, a move widely seen as engineered to eliminate him from the race. Another contender, Luhaga Mpina of ACT-Wazalendo, was barred through what critics called deliberate legal manoeuvres. Across the country, activists faced arrests, beatings, intimidation and disappearances, creating a climate of fear in the weeks leading up to the vote.
After the results were announced, protests erupted across Dar es Salaam, Arusha, Mwanza, Dodoma and other towns. Demonstrators tore down campaign banners, burned government buildings and seized ballot boxes. Despite a nationwide internet blackout, videos and images that surfaced showed police firing tear gas and gunshots at crowds demanding a new election.
Chadema, the opposition party barred from participating, claimed that about 700 people had been killed, citing figures collected from clinics and hospitals. While the number could not be independently verified, the UN human rights office confirmed at least 10 deaths across several cities, warning of a deepening crisis.
For longtime observers of Tanzanian politics, the scale and speed of the protests were unprecedented. For years, efforts to mobilize nationwide resistance failed in the face of a strong security apparatus.
But the 2025 demonstrations challenged that assumption, spreading faster and further than anything seen during the multiparty era.
Political scientists noted that when protests build momentum, the notion of what is possible can change instantly. In some areas, demonstrators briefly appeared to control the streets, tearing down state symbols and openly challenging security forces — scenes carrying a rare sense of public empowerment.
Yet the future remained uncertain. Tanzania’s ruling CCM has endured 64 years through a combination of tight political control and firm security force loyalty. As the crackdown intensified, there was a risk the protests could fade quickly. But if police failed to contain the unrest, or if military support faltered, the regime could face its most serious test in decades.
At that moment, Tanzania stood on a knife’s edge: a president re-elected by a margin critics said amounted to running unopposed, and a population awakening to resistance after years of tightening authoritarian rule.
