Samia Suluhu Hassan re-elected President of Tanzania amid widespread unrest

Samia Suluhu Hassan has been declared the winner of Tanzania's presidential election, securing her another term amid unrest across the country, UNN reports with reference to the BBC.

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The electoral commission announced that Samia received 98% of the votes in Wednesday's election. In her victory speech on Saturday, she called the election "free and democratic," accusing protesters of being "unpatriotic."

Opposition parties rejected the results, calling the vote a mockery of the democratic process, as Samia's main rivals were either imprisoned or barred from running.

International observers expressed concern about the lack of transparency and widespread unrest, which reportedly resulted in hundreds of deaths and injuries.

Internet outages across the country are making it difficult to verify the death toll.

The government has tried to downplay the extent of the violence, and authorities have extended the curfew to quell the unrest.

Receiving her victory certificate on Saturday, 65-year-old Samia said: "We thank the security forces for ensuring that violence did not stop the voting.

The government strongly condemns the violent incidents." "These incidents were not patriotic at all," she said.

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Earlier on Saturday, the head of the electoral commission, Jacobs Mwamwegele, declared Samia "the winner of the presidential election."

Samia received about 31.9 million votes, or 97.66% of the total, with turnout approaching 87% of the country's 37.6 million registered voters, the head of the electoral commission said.

In Tanzania's semi-autonomous archipelago of Zanzibar, which elects its own government and leader, Hussein Mwinyi of the CCM, who is the incumbent president, won with almost 80% of the votes.

The opposition in Zanzibar said there was "massive fraud," the AP news agency reported.

Mwinyi's swearing-in ceremony is underway at the Amaan Complex stadium in Zanzibar.

No protests were reported on Saturday morning, but tensions remained high in Dar es Salaam, where security forces maintained checkpoints throughout the port city.

On Friday, demonstrators in Dar es Salaam and other cities took to the streets, tearing down Samia's posters and attacking police and polling stations, despite warnings from the army commander to stop the unrest.

The demonstrations are mostly led by young protesters who have condemned the elections as unfair.

They accuse the government of undermining democracy by suppressing key opposition leaders – one is in prison, and another was excluded for technical reasons.

Tanzanian opposition reports nearly 700 deaths during anti-government protests31.10.25, 19:38 • 8227 views

A spokesman for the opposition Chadema party told AFP on Friday that "about 700" people had died in clashes with security forces, while a diplomatic source in Tanzania told the BBC that there was credible evidence that at least 500 people had died.

Foreign Minister Mahmoud Kombo Thabit described the violence as "a few isolated pockets of incidents here and there" and said that "the security forces acted very quickly and decisively to resolve the situation."

In a statement, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said he was "deeply concerned" by the situation in Tanzania, "including reports of deaths and injuries during demonstrations." He called on all parties involved to "prevent further escalation."

The UK, Canada, and Norway expressed similar concerns, citing "credible reports of a large number of fatalities and serious injuries as a result of the security services' response to protests."

There were two main opposition contenders – Tundu Lissu, who is being held on treason charges, which he denies, and Luhaga Mpina of the ACT-Wazalendo party – but he was excluded due to legal formalities.

Sixteen marginal parties, none of which historically had significant public support, were allowed to participate in the elections.

Samia's ruling party, Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM), and its predecessor, Tanu, have dominated the country's politics and have never lost an election since independence.

Ahead of the elections, human rights groups condemned the government's crackdown, with Amnesty International citing a "wave of terror" that included enforced disappearances, torture, and extrajudicial killings of opposition figures.

The government rejected these claims, with officials stating that the elections would be free and fair.

Samia took office in 2021 as Tanzania's first female president after the death of President John Magufuli.