Samia Suluhu Hassan Wins Tanzania’s Disputed Election With 97% Vote Amid Protests and Opposition Crackdown
In Tanzania, President Samia Suluhu Hassan has been declared the winner of the disputed presidential election with just under 97 percent of the vote after main rivals were omitted from the competition.
Aadrika Tayal 
New Delhi (India) November 2: According to official findings reported in a rare electoral landslide victory yesterday, Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan won over 97 percent of the vote in the country’s disputed election.
Opposition Leaders Detained and Barred From Contesting Election
Hassan, Tanzania’s first female president, faced off against 16 small-party candidates. Tundu Lissu, the opposition party’s Chadema leader, has been arrested for treason and held in detention for months after calling for electoral reforms and other changes he believed were crucial to free and fair elections. Luhaga Mpina, the candidate from opposition party ACT-Wazalendo, was not allowed to contest.
Critics say that Tanzania’s election was not a race but a coronation, pointing out that previous leaders tolerated opposition but kept a firm grip on power because Ms. Hassan led with an iron hand and went against young democracy movements in the region.
Low Voter Turnout and Internet Blackouts
The electoral board reported that Hassan garnered 97.66 percent of the total with more than 31.9 million votes, representing nearly 89% of the 37.6 million individuals eligible to vote who voted.
Witnesses claim turnout was low on the election day, with some polling stations being disrupted by demonstrations. The Tanzanian authorities have enforced a nationwide curfew for the past three nights and restricted internet access, to the irritation of many.
Foreign Minister Mahmoud Thabit Kombo rebutted accusations that the security services had used force, implying that there had only been “just a very few very small pockets of incidents caused by criminal elements.”
Landslide Victory Sparks Controversy Over Fairness and Democracy
Samia Suluhu Hassan’s vocal critics, including the opposition party that has been in power since the country’s independence in 1961 – Chama Cha Mapinduzi – took to the streets to protest the opposition leaders’ harassment. They claimed limited election choices.
Rights groups said she presided over a “wave of terror” in the country in the run-up to the vote, including a series of high-profile abductions that intensified in the final days. The government has strongly refuted criticisms of its human rights abuses.
UN Expresses Concern as Protests Erupt
The United Nations’ Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is “deeply concerned” about the situation in Tanzania, including “reports of deaths and injuries during demonstrations,” his spokesman said in a statement.
Violent Protests
The voting was marred by violence on October 29, 2025, when demonstrators hit the streets of major cities to protest the vote, prevent vote counting, and call for it to stop. The military has been deployed to assist police in stamping out riots.
The East African country has faced on and off internet disconnections disrupting travel and other activities. The protests have spread across Tanzania, and the government has postponed the reopening of the universities, scheduled for October 3, 2025.
Samia's Journey to President
Samia Suluhu Hussain was elected as the vice president in 2021 following the death in office of her predecessor, John Magufuli. The vice-president assumed power to rule the east African country with 68 million people. Hussain studied at the University of Manchester London for postgraduate diploma economics and entered politics in 2000.
