Folks protest within the streets of Arusha, Tanzania, on election day Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2025.
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JOHANNESBURG, South Africa — There was loads of pomp and ceremony at President Samia Suluhu Hassan’s inauguration ceremony on Monday as she took the oath of workplace.
However in contrast to at earlier swearing in ceremonies there weren’t any members of the general public.
Hassan says that very same public supported her in overwhelming numbers on the polls on Oct. 29. The nation’s electoral fee declared her winner with 98% of the vote.
The nation’s largest opposition occasion Chadema was banned from contesting the elections and its chief Tundu Lissu is at present on trial on treason prices.
“You will by no means have free, honest, clear elections in Tanzania beneath the present authorized framework,” stated Deogratias Munishi, spokesman for the most important opposition Chadema.
“These elections had been utterly illegitimate, they had been a complete sham,” he informed NPR.
Talking from neighboring Kenya, Munishi stated safety forces have launched a lethal crackdown on Tanzanians protesting the election outcomes.
Attributable to a nationwide web shutdown it has been troublesome to get data from the bottom, however movies circulated by rights teams present piles of corpses and younger protesters with bullet wounds.
Munishi says greater than 1,000 individuals have been killed. It has been not possible for NPR to confirm casualty figures and the Tanzanian authorities have stated they haven’t any figures on the useless and have denied extreme use of drive.
However Munishi stated the state of affairs is dire.
“Streets … are coated with useless our bodies, hospitals in Tanzania are overwhelmed by useless our bodies. Police are going across the nation to gather these useless our bodies and bury them in mass graves,” he stated.
Earlier than his arrest in April, Lissu had been holding rallies across the nation earlier than his arrest beneath the slogan: “No reforms, no elections.” Rights teams reported quite a few situations of torture, enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings within the run as much as the vote.
Lissu’s American lawyer, Robert Amsterdam, says the opposition chief — who survived being shot 16 instances in a 2017 assassination try – faces the demise penalty if convicted of treason.
“My shopper Tundu Lissu continues to languish in solitary confinement in jail for completely no cause aside from his reputation, his credibility and his integrity,” he stated.
“The state of affairs in Tanzania is in a essential place…there may be completely no legitimacy to the fraudulent actions of final week,” Amsterdam added.
Successor to “the Bulldozer”
In 2021 when President Hassan first succeeded authoritarian chief John Magufuli — who was nicknamed “the Bulldozer” — many Tanzanians had been hopeful the nation was on a extra democratic path.
She ushered in a variety of reforms , together with ending bans on political rallies, repealing repressive legal guidelines across the media, and releasing Lissu’s Chadema predecessor from jail.
Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan casts her vote in the course of the common elections at Chamwino polling station in Dodoma, Tanzania, Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2025.
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Now, many say the 65-year-old – who’s Tanzania’s first feminine chief – is worse than her predecessor. Her son Abdul Halim Hafidh Ameir is believed by many to have overseen the crackdown.
There have been stories of the military siding with protesters in some locations, however they’re unconfirmed and the military chief final week referred to as the protesters “criminals.”
On Sunday on the Vatican, Pope Leo referred to as for an finish to the put up election violence within the nation, saying: “I urge everybody to keep away from all types of violence and to pursue the trail of dialogue.”
Amsterdam stated the worldwide neighborhood must be vocal in its condemnation. He additionally stated the actual fact the African Union has not condemned the elections exhibits it’s “only a clubhouse for dictators.”
In truth an announcement by the African Union congratulated President Hassan and quite a few African heads of state attended her inauguration. On the ceremony Hassan nodded to the unrest, calling for “unity and solidarity.”
In the meantime, colleges had been closed and public transport halted Monday as the complete web blackout continued.
Munishi stated the opposition was undeterred.
“So long as it takes Chadema will proceed, whether or not Tundi Lissu stays in jail or is out,” he stated.
Tanzania is one in all a number of African nations to carry disputed elections this yr which have resulted in unrest. Final month Cameroonian elections noticed 92-year-old president Paul Biya reelected for an eighth time period, whereas Ivory Coast’s 83-year-year-old Alassane Ouattara received a fourth time period having barred opposition heavyweights from operating.
