President Samia’s ‘Landslide Win’ Sparks Outrage as Constitution Bars Challenge to Election Results

Dar es Salaam, November 1 – Tanzania’s electoral commission on Saturday morning declared President Samia Suluhu Hassan the winner of a deeply contentious presidential election, announcing a Soviet-style victory margin of 97.66% that starkly contradicts the violent unrest, low voter turn out, nationwide internet blackout, and reported fatalities that have plagued the process. This triumphalist declaration, arriving after four days of chaos and a mounting death toll, stands in jarring opposition to the reality on the ground, further fracturing the nation and provoking intense international scrutiny over the election’s legitimacy.

The official narrative, delivered by electoral chief Jacobs Mwambegele, presented a picture of overwhelming consensus. President Samia, he stated, had secured a staggering 31 million votes, with her closest challenger, a candidate from a fringe party, managing just 213,414. The ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) was declared to have won 270 of 272 parliamentary seats, a near-total monopoly on power. Yet, this statistical landslide has been met not with celebration, but with profound skepticism and condemnation, both domestically and internationally.

The most immediate question hanging over the result is its basic mathematical plausibility. The commission reported that 32.67 million voters cast ballots out of 37 million registered – a turnout of over 88%. This figure stands in stark, almost surreal, contrast to the testimony of journalists, observers, and citizens on election day. Across Dar es Salaam and other urban centers, polling stations were described as “ghost towns,” with photographs and videos circulating before the internet shutdown showing empty voting halls and deserted queues.

“What surprises me is that they allege that 32.67 million voters voted that day out of the over 37 million registered voters. That turnout doesn’t even happen in a country that is voting peacefully, never, let alone in the situation Tanzania was in,” one analyst noted on social media, capturing a widespread sentiment. For many Tanzanians, the officially declared turnout is not just an exaggeration; it is a fiction that erases the visible, widespread boycott of an election they deemed illegitimate.

The credibility of these numbers is further undermined by the context in which they were produced. The election was held in an information vacuum, with a nationwide internet shutdown imposed as violence erupted. This blackout, confirmed by the global monitor NetBlocks, prevented independent verification, stifled citizen journalism, and muzzled traditional media, which remained heavily controlled. “An election characterized by widespread violence, internet shutdown, very low turnout, and marred by chaos and protests but still more than 32 million people managed to come out and vote for Mama Suluhu. This wasn’t an election but rather a coronation,” a senior program manager with an international NGO in Dar es Salaam told JH_EA.

To critics, the outcome was predetermined long before election day. The process was systematically engineered to eliminate meaningful competition. The main opposition leader, Tundu Lissu of the CHADEMA party, was incarcerated on treason charges, while the only other significant challenger, Luhaga Mpina of ACT-Wazalendo, was disqualified on technicalities. This left President Samia competing against 16 little-known parties with no national footprint.

This pre-emptive neutering of the opposition did not go unnoticed internationally. In a powerful condemnation issued before the results were announced, leading Members of the European Parliament declared the elections could not be considered “free or fair.” They asserted that the “fraud did not begin at the ballot box – it has been unfolding for months,” pointing to the “harassment and arrest” of opposition leaders and a “collapse of democratic values and judicial independence.”

Their assessment aligned with pre-election reports from human rights organizations. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch had documented a “wave of terror” involving enforced disappearances, torture, and extrajudicial killings of government critics. This created an atmosphere of fear that made genuine political contestation impossible.

Regional and international reaction

The announcement has triggered a wave of critical reactions from regional political figures. Kenyan Siaya Governor James Orengo expressed solidarity with the people of Tanzania on X, stating, “I wish to express solidarity with and support for the valiant men and women of Tanzania… Glad to see portraits of Raila Odinga flying high in Dar appreciating his progressive politics. The people of Tanzania will overcome.”

His sentiment was echoed by Martha Karua, the Kenyan opposition leader who was deported from Tanzania in May for attempting to attend Tundu Lissu’s trial. In a scathing verdict, she declared that “Suluhu Hassan had trounced her own shadow,” a biting critique of the one-sided nature of the contest. In a significant development, South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC) has refused to endorse the election, citing unspecified reasons, a notable snub from a fellow liberation movement turned ruling party.

The United Nations has also voiced deep concern. Secretary-General António Guterres called for restraint and dialogue, while the UN Human Rights office stated it was “alarmed by the deaths and injuries,” calling on security forces to “refrain from using unnecessary or disproportionate force.”

In a significant escalation of diplomatic pressure, the foreign ministers of the United Kingdom, Canada, and Norway issued a joint statement Friday night condemning the post-election violence. They cited “credible reports of a large number of fatalities” and denounced the pre-election “harassment, abductions and intimidation” of opposition figures

In a striking departure from established electoral practice, Tanzania’s contentious polls concluded without the customary preliminary statements from a wide array of regional and international observer missions, including the African Union, the East African Community, COMESA, IGAD, SADC, and ECOWAS. This collective silence from bodies that typically provide immediate, on-the-ground assessments has created a significant accountability vacuum, amplifying concerns over the process’s transparency.

The absence of their voices stands in notable contrast to the European Union’s engagement; the EU had deployed an Election Observation Mission under Chief Observer Judith Sargentini, a Members of the European Parliament were among those invited by Tanzanian authorities to observe the elections originally scheduled for 25 October. Yet their silence – alongside the failure of other observer missions to release any preliminary findings – has become a controversy of its own. The absence of credible, timely reports from official monitors has deepened public suspicion, raising questions about the transparency of the process and the diplomatic pressures that may have shaped it.

As the government continued to downplay the unrest, describing it as “a few isolated pockets of incidents,” mounting evidence painted a far darker picture. A spokesperson for the opposition CHADEMA party claimed on Friday that “around 700” people had been killed. A diplomatic source in Dar es Salaam told the BBC there was credible evidence of at least 500 fatalities, while the UN human rights office, offering a more conservative but verified estimate, cited “credible reports” of at least 10 deaths in three cities. The ongoing internet blackout has made independent verification of the true death toll nearly impossible.

Unverified reports on Friday evening suggested a rapid deterioration of the situation in Tanzania. The East African Community (EAC) Secretariat was reportedly closed, and the EAC Election Observation Mission still in the country was said to have been halted and ordered to leave immediately.

Read more here: Tanzania Crisis: Election Turns Brutal as Pro-Government Supporters Become Targets

Read more here: Tanzania Imposes Curfew as Election Day Ends in Violence, Internet Shutdown, and Low Turnout

The protests, now entering their fourth day, have been characterized by intense fury directed at the symbols of CCM’s power. Youths have torn down President Samia’s posters, attacked police stations, and set up burning barricades, defiantly chanting “Hatutaki CCM!” (We don’t want CCM!). In a telling act of targeted retribution, businesses and properties belonging to celebrities and businessmen perceived as pro-CCM have been attacked and burned.

Tanzania’s constitutional and electoral framework establishes a formidable legal barrier in the event of a disputed presidential election. Under the current system, once the electoral commission formally declares a winner, the result is considered final and cannot be challenged in any court of law. This provision effectively insulates the official outcome from judicial scrutiny or electoral petition, leaving public protest and international pressure as the only remaining avenues for those contesting the legitimacy of the declared results.

A victory that reflects strength or absence of contest?

President Samia now begins a new term under a cloud of unprecedented controversy. Critics said the 98% victory, intended to project an image of invincible strength, was being interpreted by many as the opposite – a sign of a system so afraid of competition that it must eliminate all rivals. As one Tanzanian succinctly put it on social media: “Winning with 98% of the vote doesn’t reflect strength it reflects the absence of fair contest. Tanzania’s democracy seems to be at a crossroads.”

Independent election observers say the tarnished victory leaves the country at a perilous crossroads. They argue that the social contract between the state and its citizens has been shattered, and the once-proud myth of Ungwana – of civility and orderly political transition, now lies in ruins. While the government may have secured a commanding 98 percent mandate on paper, it has lost the trust and consent of a large section of its people. Observers warn that the road ahead is lined with the risk of prolonged unrest and growing international isolation, as the world questions what many describe as a coronation masquerading as an election.