A Growing Autocracy
Photograph of Tanzanian President John Magufuli Speaking at party event in Dodoma. Photo courtesy of the Associated Press.
On 28 October, incumbent Tanzanian president, John Magufuli, won re-election in a landslide victory.
Opposition leaders in the country have accused the government of political suppression and underhanded tactics in order to prevent a fair result.
Mr Magufuli, from the centre-left Party of the Revolution, reportedly received over 84 per cent of the vote, while centre-right opposition candidate Tundu Lissu, ended with just over 13 per cent.
Even before voters went to the polls, international election observers reported that the government was stifling public dissent. Tanzania's National Election Commission, whose members are appointed by the president, prevented thousands of observers from being accredited, as reported by the Associated Press.
Government officials prevented Mr Lissu from holding public events, while Mr Magufuli's campaign went largely uninhibited. Opposition parties have also accused the electoral commission of preventing their candidates from joining local races.
United States Department of State Spokesman Cale Brown told reporters, '…we remain deeply concerned by credible reports of significant and widespread voting irregularities, internet interruption, arrests, and violence by security forces both in mainland Tanzania and on Zanzibar' he said. 'These irregularities call into question Tanzania's commitment to democratic values'.
Mr Lissu told The Washington Post that he would not concede the election, saying 'this time around, it will be decided by the masses on the streets'.
Tanzania Elections Watch, a regional election observation group, and Twitter Incorporated have both confirmed that there had been seemingly deliberate clampdowns on communications channels and social media.
Demonstrations have also broken all over Tanzania, with some of the most violent being in the semiautonomous region of Zanzibar. Opposition groups report that security forces used tear gas and live ammunition to quell protests, with as many as nine civilians being killed, according to Al Jazeera.
Government officials have refused to confirm the incidents.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Tanzania was considered to be one of the most stable governments and fastest-growing economies in Africa.
However, in early October, Amnesty International, a human rights watchdog, accused Mr Magufuli of acting like an autocrat. The report said Mr Magufuli was using the 'law to systemically and deliberately clamp down on people's inalienable human rights'.
In 2018, the World Bank Group halted $1.7 billion in loans to Tanzania over a policy that prevented pregnant students from enrolling in public schools and a law making it illegal to question official statistics. However, the group resumed ending in 2019.
Mr Magufuli, a former government minister and soldier, was first elected in a landslide in 2015, but his centre-left party has been in power since 1980.
During the campaign, Mr Magufuli promised approval of infrastructure projects and local investment.
Mr Lissu returned from exile in Belgium this year, after an attempted assassination in which he was 16 times. Another opposition leader, Freeman Mbowe, was also attacked by unknown assailants, after accusing the government of burying COVID-19 data.
In April Mr Magufuli halted reports on COVID-19 cases, saying that the pandemic could be 'defeated by prayer', as reported by The Washington Post.
Legislative elections also saw opposition parties all but wiped out in the National Assembly, leaving Tanzania in a state of almost one-party rule.
Mr Lissu has pledged to continue rallying international attention to Tanzania's government, but with little legislative power, he has very little options to effectively criticise Mr Magufuli's administration.
Sources:
Odula, Tom. ‘Observers say Tanzania’s presidential vote is already flawed’. AP News, Associated Press, 25 Oct. 2020,
Brown, Cale. ‘Widespread Irregularities Observed during the Tanzanian Elections’. State Department, U.S. Department of State, 02 Nov. 2020,
https://www.state.gov/widespread-irregularities-observed-during-the-tanzanian-elections/
Ombuor, Rael and Wroughton, Lesely. ‘Tanzania’s democracy faces a critical test in Wednesday’s election’. The Washington Post, Nash Holdings, 28 Oct. 2020,
Awami, Sammy. ‘What next for Tanzania’s opposition after election wipeout?’. Al Jazeera, Al Jazeera Media Group, 08 Dec. 2020,
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/12/8/tanzania-opposition-still-reel-from-wipe-out
‘Tanzania: Laws weaponized to undermine political and civil freedoms ahead of elections’. Amnesty International, Amnesty International, 12 Oct. 2020,