DODOMA, Tanzania, November 1st -President Samia Suluhu Hassan has been announced as the winner of the Tanzanian presidential election after bagging 97.66 percent of the total votes cast (32,678,884) against her 16 challengers.
Making the announcement, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) led by Chairman and Court of Appeal Judge Jacobs Mwambegele said that Chama Cha Mapinduzi’s (CCM)Suluhu garnered 31,913,866 votes, followed by Mwalim Salim Juma of CHAUMMA party at a distant second with 213,41 (0.65 %) votes. The total registered voters were 37, 647,235 million.
According to the electoral body, the ruling independence party, CCM won 270 of the 272 parliamentary seats. The opposition, through the Alliance for Change and Transparency (ACT-Wazalendo), won the remaining two legislative seats.
In recent days, violence has erupted in most parts of the country with several properties destroyed and an unconfirmed number of hundreds of people feared dead.
Suluhu’s main challengers, Tundu Lissu of Chadema and ACT-Wazalendo’s Luhaga Mpina, were barred from contesting in the election. As they agitated for key reforms, opposition figures and human rights organisations had called for the boycott of the election, terming it a sham, before and during the voting.
In April 2025, INEC disqualified CHADEMA and its officials from vying in this hotly contested election, and the rest, until 2030.
“They had failed to sign the mandatory Electoral Code of Conduct, which was due by April 2025.”
Suluhu rose to power following the untimely demise of President John Pombe Magufuli on 17th March 2021 to finish the remainder of his term. He was the first Tanzanian president to die in office.
In Zanzibar Island, CCM’s Hussein Mwinyi was also declared the presidential winner with 74.8 percent against his main opponent, Othman Masoud of ACT-Wazalendo.
According to results released on October 30 by the Zanzibar Electoral Commission (ZEC) Chairperson George Joseph Kazi the voter turnout was recorded at 88 percent.
