Tanzania has deployed its military to the streets and imposed an internet blackout following two days of widespread protests disputing the results of Wednesday’s presidential election, which international observers have decried as neither free nor fair.
The unrest erupted as opposition parties challenged the electoral process, which was marked by a low voter turnout. Demonstrators set fire to a bus and a petrol station and vandalized police stations and polling centers. The violence resulted in two fatalities.
In response, the government implemented a curfew, shut down internet access across the nation, and ordered the army to support police forces in restoring order.
The election was preceded by a crackdown on key opposition figures. Main opposition leader Tundu Lissu was imprisoned before the poll and charged with treason for his calls for electoral reform. In a further move limiting political choice, Luhaga Mpina, the presidential candidate for the country’s second-largest opposition party, was barred from running.
On Thursday, the national electoral commission announced through state television that President Samia Suluhu Hassan had taken a commanding early lead. The commission stated she had garnered 96.99% of the votes based on tallies from just 8 out of 272 constituencies.
The preliminary results have been met with sharp criticism from abroad. Members of the European Parliament issued a statement saying the vote was “neither fair nor free” and urged democratic partners to “stand firm in the defense of democracy and human rights.”
A victory for President Hassan would extend the lengthy rule of the Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party. A version of the CCM has held power in Tanzania continuously since the country’s independence in 1961.
