Tanzanian elections

Troubled election day: “Tanzania will never be the same”

A police station has been burned down and hundreds are protesting during election day in Tanzania.

“We want our country back,” protesters in the country’s largest city, Dar es Salaam, shouted, according to an AFP reporter on the scene.

Police responded with tear gas.

The election is largely a chimera. President Samia Suluhu Hassan has barely any opposition, after her main rivals were barred from running. It is more of a coronation than an election, writes the BBC.

Experts had therefore expected both apathy and anger among voters.

“Tanzania will never be the same after this election,” Deus Valentine, head of a civil society organization in the country, told The Guardian.

He believes the country is facing a crossroads: either politicians take a tighter grip on the country, or major protests await.

Tanzania's government faces victory - has ruled for 64 years

Tanzania is expected to further extend the term of the Chama Cha Mapinduzi party in Wednesday's elections, writes Reuters.

The party has ruled Tanzania without interruption since the country gained independence from Britain in 1961.

According to Amnesty, the government has increased repression against opposition and civil society organizations ahead of the elections. The BBC reports that President Samia Suluhu Hassan was seen as a voice for reconciliation when she took office in 2021, but that her rule has since become increasingly authoritarian.

- She is now widely considered guilty of kidnappings, murders, and the repression of political opponents, says political analyst Mohammed Issa to the channel.