Samia Hassan was re-elected in Tanzania in 2025 in a landslide that sealed her second full term with 97.66 per cent of over 32 million votes from 37 million registered voters, as declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission amid a tense nationwide curfew and internet blackout that shrouded the announcement in shadows of unrest.
The verdict, delivered in a fortified hall under heavy guard late Wednesday, capped a poll process that spiralled into violence from the moment preliminary tallies flashed on state screens. President Hassan, 65 and the CCM party’s ironclad choice, swept every region from the spice-laced isles of Zanzibar to the coffee-shadowed slopes of Kilimanjaro, her victory speech a measured call for unity laced with nods to economic rebounds and infrastructure booms.
“This is a mandate for progress, not division,” she intoned, her voice steady over crackling speakers, as aides flanked her against the backdrop of Dodoma’s dusty plains. Yet, outside, the capital’s streets lay eerily still, patrols rumbling through under a 6 PM clampdown that turned vibrant markets into moonlit voids.
Opposition from Chadema, the main rival that boycotted much of the race after leader Tundu Lissu’s jailing on treason whispers, cried foul from the fringes.
“Rigging on steroids,” blasted party chair Freeman Mbowe in a smuggled audio clip, alleging ballot stuffing in strongholds like Morogoro and Mwanza, where turnout dipped suspiciously low.
Protests ignited almost instantly, swelling into clashes that security forces quashed with tear gas volleys and live rounds, turning Dar es Salaam’s harbourside boulevards into battlegrounds of burning barricades and bloodied pavements. Reports from diplomats, human rights monitors, and opposition scouts tally hundreds dead, a figure that chills like Lake Victoria’s depths. In Kariakoo, where fishmongers once haggled at dawn, witnesses recounted youth crumpling under sniper fire, their cries drowned by helicopter rotors.
“They came for votes; we got bullets,” one survivor, a 22-year-old student named Zara, shared via a Kenyan border relay, her words raw with rage. International eyes turned sharp.
The United Nations, through envoy Mohamed Khaled Khiari, condemned the “disproportionate force” in a Geneva briefing, urging independent audits to peel back the blackout’s veil. “Verification isn’t optional; it’s oxygen for trust,” Khiari pressed, his plea echoing in empty newsrooms starved of signal.
The African Union, in a delicately worded note from Chairperson Mahmoud Ali Youssouf, congratulated Hassan while mourning the toll.
“The Chairperson deeply regrets the loss of human life during the post-election protests and extends his sincere condolences to the families of the victims,” the statement read, showing rights to assembly and expression under the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance.
Youssouf called for calm from citizens and restraint from authorities, reaffirming the AU’s hand in fostering “peace, national cohesion, and democracy” for Tanzania’s people and government.
Hassan’s path, smoothed by CCM’s six-decade stranglehold, wasn’t unchallenged in whispers. Pre-poll purges jailed over 200 Chadema youth on “incitement” raps, and media muzzles silenced critics weeks out.
Her campaign, heavy on port expansions and youth jobs amid 13 per cent unemployment, wooed some, but sceptics see coronation over contest.
Zanzibar’s semi-autonomous vote, a parallel flashpoint, mirrored the mainland mess with scuffles claiming a dozen lives, with clove traders now barricaded in homes. As November 2 dawns with planned defiance marches despite the iron grip, Tanzania teeters.
Airports shuttered, ferries docked, and a digital eclipse that severs families from facts. Economists fret over tourism’s $2.5 billion bleed and coffee exports rotting in silos.
Samia Hassan being re-elected in Tanzania in 2025 isn’t mere math; it’s a mirror to a giant at crossroads, where ballots bend under boots and hopes flicker in the dark. Will AU nudges thaw the freeze or fuel fiercer flames?