Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan has been declared the winner of the country’s presidential election, securing another term amid unrest across the country.
Samia won 98% of the vote in Wednesday’s election, sweeping nearly 32 million votes, according to the Election Commission.
International observers have expressed concern about the lack of transparency and widespread chaos, which has reportedly left hundreds dead and hundreds more injured.
With the internet shut down nationwide, it is becoming difficult to confirm the number of deaths. The government has sought to deescalate the violence, and authorities have extended a curfew to quell unrest.
“I announce Samia Suluhu Hassan as the winner of the presidential election for the Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party,” Electoral Commission Chairman Jacobs Mwambegele said when announcing the results on Saturday morning.
Samia secured about 31.9 million votes, or 97.66% of the total, with voter turnout close to 87% of the country’s 37.6 million registered voters, the election chief said.
In Tanzania’s Zanzibar archipelago, which elects its own government and leader, incumbent President Hussein Mwini of CCM won with nearly 80% of the vote.
Zanzibar’s opposition party said there had been “massive fraud,” the Associated Press reported.
Mwini’s inauguration ceremony is taking place at the Amaan Complex Stadium in Zanzibar.
Protests continued on Friday, with protesters in the port city of Dar es Salaam and other cities taking to the streets, tearing down posters of Samia and attacking police and polling stations despite warnings from the military chief to end the unrest.
No protests were reported on Saturday morning, but tensions remained high on the streets of Dar es Salaam with security forces deploying roadblocks across the city.
The protests are mostly led by young protesters who accuse the election of being unfair.
They accuse the government of undermining democracy by suppressing main opposition leaders. One is in prison and the other has been excluded for technical reasons.
A spokesman for the opposition Chadema party told AFP on Friday that around 700 people had been killed in clashes with security forces, while a Tanzanian diplomatic source told the BBC there was credible evidence that at least 500 people had been killed.
Foreign Minister Mahmoud Kombo Thabit described the violence as “a few isolated incidents here and there” and said “security forces acted very quickly and decisively to resolve the situation.”
There were two main opposition contenders – Tundu Lissu, who was jailed on treason charges, and Luhaga Mpina of the ACT-Wazalendo party – but they were ruled out due to legal technicalities.
Sixteen fringe parties that historically have not enjoyed significant popular support were allowed to run.
Samia’s ruling party, CCM, has dominated the country’s politics and has not lost an election since independence.
Ahead of the election, human rights groups criticized the government’s crackdown, with Amnesty International citing a “wave of terrorism” that included enforced disappearances, torture and extrajudicial killings of opponents.
The government rejected these claims, and officials said the elections would be free and fair.
Samia took office in 2021 as Tanzania’s first female president following the death of President John Magufuli.
