Some 700 people have been killed in three days of election protests in Tanzania, the main opposition party said Friday, with protesters still on the streets in the midst of an internet blackout.
“As we speak the figure for deaths in Dar (es Salaam) is around 350 and for Mwanza it is 200-plus. Added to figures from other places around the country, the overall figure is around 700,” John Kitoka, spokesman from the main opposition party Chadema, said.
“The death toll could be much higher,” he warned, saying killings could be happening during the nighttime curfew.
President Samia Suluhu Hassan, whose government is accused of a campaign of repression, had sought to cement her position and silence critics in her party in the virtually uncontested polls, with the main challengers either jailed or barred from standing.
Wednesday’s election descended into chaos as huge crowds took to the streets of Dar es Salaam and other cities, tearing down her posters and attacking police and polling stations, leading to an internet shutdown and curfew.
With foreign journalists largely banned from covering the election and a communications block entering its third day, information from the ground has been scarce.
Chadema, which was barred from the election, said protesters were marching on the city centre in Dar es Salaam on Friday, met by a heavy police and army presence.
A security source told AFP they were hearing reports of more than 500 dead, “maybe 700-800 in the whole country”, while Amnesty said it had received information of at least 100.
Multiple hospitals and health clinics were too afraid to talk directly to reporters.
Local news sites had not been updated since Wednesday, and Hassan has not commented on the unrest.
The only official statement came from army chief Jacob Mkunda late Thursday who called the protesters “criminals”.
Zanzibar ‘robbed’
In Zanzibar, a tourist hotspot, Hassan’s ruling party had already been declared winner of the local vote on Thursday.
The opposition party, ACT-Wazalendo, rejected the result, saying: “They have robbed the people of Zanzibar of their voice… The only solution to deliver justice is through a fresh election.”
A senior party official said ballot boxes had been stuffed, people had been allowed to vote multiple times without ID and that their election observers had been kicked out of counting rooms.
The ruling party (Chama Cha Mapinduzi: CCM) was due to give a press conference later in the day.
At a meeting place for opposition supporters on Zanzibar, there was dismay and fear.
“There has never been a credible election since 1995,” said a 70-year-old man, referring to Tanzania’s first multi-party vote.
None of those interviewed gave their names.
“We are afraid of speaking because they might come to our houses and pick us up,” said one.
Crackdown
Hassan has faced opposition from parts of the army and allies of her iron-fisted predecessor, John Magufuli, since she took over upon his death in 2021, analysts say.
They said she wanted an emphatic victory to cement her position, and the authorities banned the main opposition party, Chadema, and put its leader on trial for treason.
In the run-up to the vote, rights groups condemned a “wave of terror” in the east African nation, including a string of high-profile abductions that escalated in the final days.
Much public anger has been directed at Hassan’s son, Abdul Halim Hafidh Ameir, accused of overseeing the crackdown.
ACT-Wazalendo was allowed to contest the local election in Zanzibar, but its candidate was barred from competing against Hassan on the mainland. (FRANCE 24 with AFP)
