31, 2025. Tanzania's election protests entered a third day as hundreds of demonstrators faced police in Dar es Salaam and the electoral body kept releasing results from a vote already clouded by claims of an uneven playing field. The government shut down the internet, imposed a curfew and deployed the military, while the U.N. human rights office said it had credible reports that 10 people had been killed.
The unrest began after Wednesday's election, in which the Chama Cha Mapinduzi party sought to extend the hold on power it has maintained since independence in 1961. President Samia Suluhu Hassan was facing 16 smaller-party candidates after the two main opposition contenders were barred, and critics said the contest was unusually tilted even by the standards of a system long dominated by one party. State television continued broadcasting mainland results as the counting proceeded.
By Friday, security around Dar es Salaam had intensified. Government workers were told to stay home, domestic flights were canceled and some international travelers were unable to retrieve flight information because the internet remained unavailable. The nationwide curfew was extended, and the army chief said the military would work with other agencies to contain the situation. The U.N. rights office urged security forces to avoid unnecessary or disproportionate force and called for the internet to be restored.
The protest movement spread quickly after young demonstrators took to the streets over harassment of opposition figures and the limited choice on the ballot. Some protesters set vehicles, a gas station and police stations on fire, though the government did not immediately say how much damage had been done or whether there were further casualties. Amnesty International said two people had been killed earlier in the week.
The tension also reached Zanzibar, where the ruling CCM retained the presidency and electoral officials said incumbent President Hussein Mwinyi won 78.8% of the vote. The islands stayed relatively calm under a heavy military presence, but the opposition said the results were fraudulent and promised to reveal its next steps. Across the country, the combination of internet blackouts, military patrols and disputed results has turned a routine vote count into a wider crisis of legitimacy.
The scale of the shutdown also made it harder for outsiders to judge the real cost of the unrest. With phones and internet largely offline, Tanzanians in the diaspora turned to X Spaces to discuss the crisis and share support, while the lack of reliable communications limited both independent reporting and official transparency. That information blackout now sits alongside the deaths and arrests as part of the political story. It also made the government's refusal to explain the violence feel even more consequential. Without clear information, even rumors can become political fuel, and the blackout turned the count itself into an object of suspicion. The internet shutdown may prove as consequential as the street violence. Any delayed result announcement will now be read through that same lens of mistrust. Readers there need clarity, not rumor, clearly.
