Police in Tanzania’s bustling capital, Dar es Salaam, fired gunshots and teargas on Thursday to disperse dozens of protesters who had returned to the streets a day after a contentious general election plagued by violence and widespread demonstrations. The unrest, which flared during Wednesday’s voting, stems from anger over the disqualification of President Samia Suluhu Hassan’s two primary challengers, alongside accusations of escalating government repression against critics.
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A Reuters witness reported clashes in neighborhoods including Mbagala, Gongo la Mboto, and Kiluvya, where demonstrators gathered defiantly despite an overnight curfew imposed on Dar es Salaam a metropolis of over seven million residents. Internet access has been severely restricted nationwide since Wednesday afternoon, according to reports from the internet watchdog NetBlocks. Businesses shuttered, schools closed, and key roads in the city center lay deserted as the curfew took effect from 6 p.m. local time, announced by Inspector of Police Camillus Wambura on state television. The military was also deployed to quell what authorities described as the worst election-related violence in three decades of multiparty rule.
Casualty figures remain unverified but alarming. Tanzanian human rights activist Tito Magoti told Reuters he had received reports of at least five deaths from Wednesday’s protests. A diplomatic source, speaking anonymously, cited solid intelligence of at least ten fatalities in Dar es Salaam alone. Reuters could not independently confirm these numbers, and neither government nor police spokespeople responded to requests for comment.
As the chaos unfolded, the state-run Tanzania Broadcasting Corporation which has largely ignored the disturbances began broadcasting provisional presidential election results. These early tallies showed Hassan securing commanding majorities in various constituencies, paving the way for what appears to be a landslide victory for the incumbent.
The election, encompassing votes for president, parliament members, and officials in the semi-autonomous Zanzibar archipelago, has been branded a “coronation” by Tanzania’s main opposition party, CHADEMA. The party urged a boycott, citing systemic exclusion. In April, CHADEMA was disqualified after refusing to sign a code of conduct, and its leader, Tundu Lissu, faced treason charges pleading not guilty in a trial that will not conclude until after the vote. Lissu, who survived a 2017 assassination attempt and fled the country after the 2020 elections before returning in hope of expanded freedoms, was arrested again last year ahead of a rally demanding reforms.
The electoral commission, whose members are appointed by the president, also barred Luhaga Mpina of ACT-Wazalendo, the second-largest opposition group, from running. This left only minor parties to challenge Hassan, effectively clearing her path. Human rights groups and critics accuse the government of corrupting the process through abductions, detentions, and forced disappearances of activists and journalists. A United Nations report in June labeled these tactics as electoral “repression,” charges the government denies. Hassan last year ordered an investigation into abduction reports, but no findings have been released.
Demonstrators, responding to CHADEMA’s boycott call and broader anger over political harassment, blocked major roads in Dar es Salaam, burned buses, and torched at least one police post on Wednesday. Police fired into the air and deployed teargas in response. On the Zello app which allows smartphones to function as walkie-talkies some protesters coordinated plans for further actions, including marches on government buildings.
In a bid to contain the fallout, government spokesperson Gerson Msigwa posted on Instagram directing all civil servants to work from home on Thursday, except those with essential on-site duties.
The violence rippled beyond the streets: Britain’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office reported cancellations of international flights to and from Dar es Salaam’s airport, with facilities in northern Arusha and near Mount Kilimanjaro fully closed.
The protests echo youth-led demonstrations in Kenya, Mozambique, and Morocco, driven by Gen Z voters. This marks the third African election this month following Cameroon and Ivory Coast where top challengers were sidelined, smoothing the way for incumbents. As political science lecturer Richard Mbunda of the University of Dar es Salaam noted, “The most important thing in this election is the question of legitimacy… There is legal legitimacy provided by the Constitution… but there are questions regarding political legitimacy.”
Magoti, the rights activist, hailed the unrest as a turning point: “The people are rewriting our political culture from being cows, if I use this word respectfully… to being active citizens. That was the perception long ago, that Tanzanians are peaceful and… not confrontational.”
Now 65, Hassan is a rare female head of state in Africa, hailing from Zanzibar as the daughter of a stay-at-home mother and a schoolteacher father. She holds degrees in economics and public administration from Tanzanian and British institutions, with early career stints at the World Food Programme and NGOs in Zanzibar. A longtime stalwart of the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) the Party of Revolution, founded in 1977 and tracing roots to independence leader Julius Nyerere in 1961—she served as vice president before ascending in 2021 following John Magufuli’s sudden death amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Hassan earned international praise for her “four R’s” reconciliation, resilience, reforms, and rebuilding easing the repression and censorship that intensified under Magufuli. She campaigned on “Work and Dignity” (Kazi na Heshima in Kiswahili). Yet, in recent years, rights campaigners and opposition figures have decried unexplained abductions of critics. The International Crisis Group warned in an October report that she has overseen an “unprecedented crackdown,” muzzling opponents and setting the stage for a “largely ceremonial” CCM triumph.
Tanzania stands as a democratic outlier in East Africa, adopting multiparty rule in the 1990s alongside a continental wave. While some neighbors saw ruling parties toppled, CCM has dominated six straight elections across four leaders, including in Zanzibar’s concurrent vote.
Economically, the lower-middle-income nation relies on agriculture for jobs and growth, gold production, and tourism in its savannas and Zanzibar shores. Yet challenges persist: youth unemployment, soaring food inflation, and high fuel costs fuel discontent. Voter turnout, around 50% in 2020, may gauge enthusiasm this time, according to Mbunda. With results expected in the coming days, little suggests protests will upend CCM’s ambitions.
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