Tanzania’s 2025 election was marred by fraud and severe repression. Those who spoke out – including religious leaders and journalists – were targeted as part of the government’s violent campaign to silence critics and intimidate opposition before election week. Some were arrested, abducted, assaulted, tortured and even killed. Religious leaders appeared to be a particular target of repression.
President Samia Suluhu Hassan’s two main opponents were not allowed to run, with one of them in prison and on trial for treason after demanding free and fair elections. She was later declared to have won, implausibly by a landslide.
Election day crackdown
On election day, Tanzania witnessed its largest protests in 64 years. The protesters were mainly young people from Gen Z, boldly standing against corruption, repression and electoral fraud.
The government responded with extreme violence. There were reports of bodies being seized from mortuaries and buried in secret mass graves to obscure the death toll.
Repression continued, with 641 people charged with treason and related crimes, and thousands more disappeared. In an hour-long broadcast in December, the president justified her use of excessive force – alleging that protestors were influenced by foreigners to effect regime change.
Silence is complicity
‘Silence is complicity,’ said Mervyn (CSW Founder President) as we urged the international community to stand with the people of Tanzania. We called especially for regional organisations not to legitimise the flawed election. We were encouraged by the response from the Southern African Development Community (SADC), which concluded that Tanzanians had not been able to express their democratic will and that the elections fell short of the organisation’s principles. Later, African Union electoral observers issued a similar assessment. President Hassan may have secured a ‘victory’, but she has lost all legitimacy.
Facts and stats:
98% of the vote won by President Hassan. Over 52 abductions in October alone. More than 1,000 people are believed to have been killed by security agencies, including in their own homes.