Samia Suluhu Hassan Declared Winner Amid Deadly Unrest in Tanzania

West Africa WeeklyNovember 2, 20252 Mins read61

Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan has been declared the winner of the country’s disputed presidential election after authorities announced she secured roughly 97–98 per cent of the vote, a result met by days of violent protests and stiff international concern.

The announcement came as opposition parties and civil society groups accused the electoral authorities of excluding major challengers from the ballot and presiding over an uneven contest. Protests that began on election day spread quickly from Dar es Salaam to other cities, and security forces moved to impose curfews and a heavy presence on the streets.

Claims about the human cost of the unrest are starkly divergent. Tanzania’s main opposition party, Chadema, has told news agencies that roughly 700 people were killed during three days of protests, a figure it said was compiled from hospital and clinic tallies; other observers and some rights groups have reported lower but still alarming death tolls and widespread injuries. International organisations have raised alarm at reports of live ammunition being used against demonstrators and at patterns of arrests and intimidation in the lead-up to the vote.

Beyond the violence, the unrest has triggered acute shortages and disruptions that compound the humanitarian worry. Commercial life has been hit by shortages of fuel and cash withdrawals, and supply chains for basic foodstuffs have been interrupted in major urban centres, according to diplomatic notes and commercial reporting. In some districts, people have struggled to find petrol, withdraw money from ATMs or purchase everyday food items as transport and markets were disrupted.

The government responded to the unrest with security measures that included curfews, the deployment of the military to assist police operations and restrictions on movement in several neighbourhoods. Internet services were reportedly disrupted in parts of the country during the worst of the unrest, hampering independent reporting and fuelling concern among rights advocates and foreign missions about access to reliable information.

International reaction has been muted but pointed. Rights groups and some foreign missions have called for restraint and an independent investigation into reports of excessive force and arbitrary detentions. The spectre of sustained instability has prompted appeals for dialogue and the protection of civilians, even as the government and the ruling party framed the outcome as a legitimate mandate.

The political backdrop to the unrest is the exclusion and arrest of prominent opposition figures during the campaign period, a factor critics say hollowed out genuine competition and inflamed public anger. Voter turnout appeared depressed in many areas, and analysts say that those conditions, combined with the rapid spread of protests and the forceful security response, turned an already fraught election into a broader crisis over governance and civil liberties.

As the dust settles, attention will focus on several urgent questions: independent verification of casualty figures, restoration of standard commercial and banking services, guarantees of safe humanitarian access where needed, and whether domestic and international calls for inquiry and accountability will be heeded. For now, Tanzania faces the twin tasks of calming immediate unrest and addressing the long-term political grievances that fuelled it.