Tanzanian President Wins Landslide Election After Deadly Protests.

2 days ago7 min read

The announcement crackled across state television with a chilling finality: Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan had secured a landslide election victory, the electoral commission declaring she had won a staggering 97. 66 percent of the vote, dominating every single constituency.This result, arriving after days of violent protests that stained the streets with tension and fear, was less a celebration of democratic will and more the grim conclusion of a foregone conclusion, a script written by the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party and executed with an iron grip. The swift scheduling of a swearing-in ceremony for the same day felt like a move to cement the outcome before the dust, and the dissent, could fully settle.For the CCM, a party that has held an unbroken reign since Tanzania’s independence, this wasn't merely an election; it was a brutal reassertion of control, a demonstration that the machinery of power remains well-oiled and ruthless. The context here is critical and heartbreaking.This vote was not a free and fair contest. Key opposition candidates found themselves systematically neutralized—jailed on politically motivated charges, barred from running on technicalities, or intimidated into silence.The protests that erupted were not the actions of sore losers, but the desperate, raw cries of a populace seeing the last doors of political expression being slammed shut. To understand the gravity of this moment, one must look back at the cautious hope that followed the death of the authoritarian John Magufuli.President Hassan, his successor, initially offered whispers of a 'new dawn,' speaking of reconciliation and press freedom. But this election result, achieved through such blatantly anti-democratic means, suggests that any reform was merely superficial, a tactical pause rather than a genuine shift.The CCM’s playbook, it seems, remains unchanged. The international community now watches with a familiar, weary dilemma.Tanzania is a key regional player, a nation of immense economic potential and strategic importance. Will foreign partners issue the standard, tepid statements of 'concern' before business continues as usual, or will they impose tangible consequences for the subversion of the democratic process? The risk is a deepening alienation, pushing Tanzania further into the orbit of other authoritarian states that offer no-strings-attached partnerships.For the people of Tanzania, the consequences are immediate and profound. This outcome signals a consolidation of one-party rule that could stifle dissent for a generation, emboldening security forces and closing the already narrow space for civil society.The economic aspirations of millions are now tethered to a political system that refuses to be held accountable. The landslide figure of 97.66 percent is not a measure of popularity; it is a monument to control, a number so absurdly high it reveals its own artifice. The real story is not who won, but how they won, and what this means for the soul of a nation standing at a precipice, its dreams of a vibrant, pluralistic democracy fading under the shadow of an uncontested victory.

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#Tanzania

#Samia Suluhu Hassan

#landslide victory

#protests

#election

#CCM

#Chama Cha Mapinduzi