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Samia Suluhu Hassan has been declared the winner of Tanzania’s presidential election, becoming the African country’s first elected female leader with 98 percent of the vote in the election. affected by deadly protests,
With his victory, HasanShe takes power in 2021 after the death of her predecessor, gets another five-year term to rule the East African country.
However, there is also a possibility of Hasan’s victory raise concerns Amid critics and rights groups, the United Nations says the country of 68 million people faces a “pattern of repression.”
Such a massive victory is rare in the country.
Ahead of the elections, widespread, deadly protests broke out across Tanzania as Hassan’s two main rivals were barred from contesting the elections.
Opposition leader Tundu Lissu has been in jail for months on treason charges after calling for reforms to hold free and fair elections.
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The leader of another opposition group, Luhaga Mapina, was also prevented from running in the elections.
UN experts warned in June of more than 200 cases of enforced disappearances in the country since 2019, saying they were “concerned by reports of patterns of repression”.
“The government has curbed freedom of expression, ranging from a ban on X and the Tanzanian digital platform GemForums to the silencing of critical voices through intimidation or arrest,” the International Crisis Group said in a recent analysis.
The main opposition party Chadema described the elections as a “coronation” and not an election, and claimed that more than 700 people had lost their lives in protests across the country.
The Tanzanian government denied using excessive force and described opposition numbers as grossly exaggerated.
In elections held on Wednesday, Hassan faced 16 candidates from smaller parties as protesters took to the streets in major cities.
The army was deployed to disrupt travel and internet connectivity was temporarily cut off amid rising tensions.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged all parties in Tanzania to “stop the escalation”.
“I call on all to exercise restraint, reject violence, and engage in inclusive and constructive dialogue to prevent further escalation,” Mr. Guterres said.
The foreign ministers of the UK, Canada and Norway said in a joint statement that there were “credible reports of a large number of deaths” due to the security forces’ response to the protests, but Tanzanian authorities have not disclosed the exact number of people killed or injured.