Tanzania’s Hassan declared landslide winner in election marred by violence

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(Reuters) -Tanzania President Samia Suluhu Hassan was declared on Saturday the landslide winner of an election that set off deadly protests across the country this week over the exclusion of her main challengers.

The East African nation’s electoral commission said Hassan, who took power in 2021 after the death in office of her predecessor, received more than 31.9 million votes, or 97.66% of the total, handing her a five-year term.

Protests erupted during Wednesday’s vote for president and parliament, with some demonstrators tearing down banners of Hassan and setting fire to government buildings and police firing tear gas and gunshots, according to witnesses.

Demonstrators are angry about the electoral commission’s exclusion of Hassan’s two biggest challengers from the race and what human rights groups have said are widespread arrests and abductions of opponents.

In a speech from the administrative capital Dodoma after being certified as the winner, Hassan said the actions of the protesters were “neither responsible nor patriotic”.

“When it comes to the security of Tanzania, there is no debate – we must use all available security avenues to ensure the country remains safe,” she said.

OPPOSITION SAYS HUNDREDS WERE KILLED IN PROTESTS

Tanzania’s main opposition party CHADEMA – which was barred from the election for refusing to sign a code of conduct and had its leader arrested for treason in April – said on Friday that hundreds of people had been killed in the protests.

The U.N. human rights office said credible reports indicated that at least 10 people were killed in three cities.

The government dismissed the opposition’s death toll as “hugely exaggerated” and has rejected criticism of its human rights record. Reuters could not independently verify casualty figures.

The authorities have imposed a nationwide curfew since Wednesday and restricted access to the internet. Many international flights have been cancelled, and operations at Dar es Salaam’s port, a hub for fuel imports and exports of metals mined across the region, have been disrupted.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, in a statement issued on Friday by his spokesperson, called “for a thorough and impartial investigation into all allegations of excessive use of force” and deplored the loss of life.

Foreign Affairs Minister Mahmoud Thabit Kombo denied allegations that security services had used excessive force, telling Reuters there had only been a “very few small pockets of incidents” caused by criminal elements.

RECENT CRITICISM FOR HASSAN

The electoral commission said turnout had neared 87% of the country’s 37.6 million registered voters.

That number raised eyebrows among the government’s critics, who pointed out that Hassan’s predecessor, John Magufuli, won re-election in 2020 with just 12.5 million votes on turnout of fewer than 15 million people.

Turnout appeared low on Wednesday, according to witnesses, with some polling stations disrupted by the protests.

Hassan, 65, won praise after taking office in 2021 from Magufuli for easing government repression but has more recently faced criticism from opposition parties and activists after a series of arrests and alleged abductions of opponents.

Last year, she said she had ordered an investigation into reports of abductions, but no official findings have been released.

During the campaign, she touted accomplishments expanding road and railway networks and increasing power generation capacity.

(Writing by Aaron Ross; Editing by Clarence Fernandez and Hugh Lawson)