Tanzania elections - The African Mirror

Oct

2020

Magufuli wins re-election in Tanzania, says electoral commission

TANZANIA’S President John Magufuli was re-elected for a second, five-year term on Friday, securing a huge victory in a contest that has been dismissed by the opposition as a "travesty" due to widespread irregularities. Magufuli got 12.5 million votes in Wednesday's vote, or 84%, according to a Reuters calculation, more than 10 million more votes than his main challenger, Tundu Lissu of the Chadema party, who got 1.9 million votes, the National Electoral Commission said. In his bid for a second term, Magufuli has promised voters that he will boost the economy by completing ambitious infrastructure projects he started in…

Oct

2020

By The African Mirror

Tanzania president Magufuli seeks second term as polls open

NEWS

TANZANIANS headed to the polls today for presidential and parliamentary elections that President John Magufuli hopes will hand him another five-year term despite criticism from rights groups that the government has stifled political dissent. Magufuli's main challengers include Tundu Lissu, who was shot 16 times in 2017, and former foreign minister Bernard Membe. The attack on Lissu, who returned from three years in exile in July, has never been solved. People turned out early to cast their ballots in Dar es Salaam on Wednesday morning. "The voting process is good, calm," local pastor Clement Fumbo told Reuters after voting. "I…

Oct

2020

By The African Mirror

At the edge of democracy: what the upcoming general election holds in store for Tanzania

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

NICODEMUS MINDE, PhD Fellow, United States International University BEFORE the heroic return of opposition figure, Tundu Lissu, in late July 2020, Tanzania’s political landscape lacked the exuberance and ebullience that comes with an election season. Lissu’s return reignited the hopes of a despondent opposition that had been subdued by the oppressive and restrictive political environment during President John Magufuli’s five-year term. Lissu has been active in politics for the last two decades. He was elected to parliament on a Chama cha Demokrasia na Maendeleo (Party for Democracy and Progress) ticket in 2010. A firebrand lawyer and politician, he is known…