Polls open in Tanzania as ruling party seeks to extend decades in power

NAIROBI – Polling stations across Tanzania opened Wednesday for an election marked by concerns from human rights organizations and the detention of opposition members.

President Samia Suluhu Hassan is seeking a second term. She belongs to the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi party, which has governed the country since it gained independence in 1961.

Queues formed at three polling stations visited by Associated Press journalists. Voting officially began at 7:00 a.m. local time and is scheduled to close at 4:00 p.m., after which vote tallying will begin.

Preliminary results are expected within 24 hours, but the electoral commission has up to seven days to announce the final outcome.

The leader of the main opposition CHADEMA party, Tundu Lissu, is in prison and faces treason charges after calling for electoral reforms, while the second largest opposition party’s candidate was barred from running.

Amnesty International said the atmosphere around the polls was characterized by fear, saying it had verified cases of enforced disappearances, arbitrary arrests and extrajudicial killings ahead of the polls. The rights group said alleged abuses by the security forces undermine the legitimacy of the election.

Hassan seeks her first full term in office after completing the term of her predecessor, John Pombe Magufuli, who died suddenly in 2021. Sixteen opposition candidates representing smaller parties are also on the ballot.

Tanzania has more than 37 million registered voters, a 26% increase from 2020, but that growth in voter registration is not likely to lead to more people going to voting booths, analysts warn, citing apathy over the appearance that Hassan will cruise to victory unchallenged.

CHADEMA has called for protests on election day.