Several human rights activists from Kenya and Uganda who attempted to observe Chadema leader Tundu Lissu’s court appearance in May 2025 were prevented from doing so. Some were detained upon arriving at the international airport at Dar es Salaam and were sent back home. Others who had been able to enter the country were later arrested and deported. Two such activists—Boniface Mwangi from Kenya and Agather Atuhaire from Uganda—alleged they had been abducted from their hotel in Tanzania, interrogated, beaten, and sexually assaulted by Tanzanian security officers. The incident sparked international outrage and calls for an investigation.
The repressive actions by the government continued as the October 2025 elections drew near. Notably, in April, Chadema leader Lissu was arrested after having called for a boycott of the elections unless electoral reforms were made, which the government said constituted incitement of rebellion. The charges against him included treason, and he faced the potential of receiving the death penalty if convicted. Days later Chadema refused to sign the electoral commission’s code of conduct, claiming it was flawed and would be used to limit the opposition’s campaign activity. As signing the document was a requirement to participate in the elections, the party was disqualified and unable to field any candidates in the elections. Another opposition party’s presidential candidate, ACT-Wazalendo’s Luhaga Mpina, was disqualified in August for procedural reasons. After a successful appeal by his party, he was reinstated as a candidate in September, only to be disqualified again two days later.
Hassan, representing the CCM, was one of 17 presidential candidates in the October 29 election. With Lissu and Mpina barred from participating and the Chadema boycott, she had no strong challengers and was expected to easily win. The exclusion of the two main opposition candidates as well as anger with the general political climate led to massive demonstrations and protests in several cities, which began the day of the election and continued the following days and were accompanied by calls for the elections to be nullified. The unrest was harshly repressed, with security forces firing tear gas and live rounds of ammunition, and many people were shot. The government imposed a curfew beginning on election night, and the Internet in the country was shut down for several days.
Many protesters were killed in the unrest, though the number was unknown, with estimates ranging from several hundred to 3,000. The government disputed the estimates, though it did not provide any of its own. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights noted reports of bodies disappearing from hospitals, morgues, and on the street and allegations that they were being incinerated or buried in mass graves. A joint statement in early December from several embassies of Western countries similarly noted that “credible reports from domestic and international organizations show evidence of extrajudicial killings, disappearances, arbitrary arrests, and concealment of dead bodies.”
On November 1 Hassan was announced the winner of the presidential election, with a reported 97.66 percent of the vote, and was sworn in for her first full term as president on November 3. In Zanzibar’s presidential election, the CCM’s Mwinyi was reelected with almost 80 percent of the vote.
Some prominent regional statesmen criticized the presidential election and commented on the legitimacy of Hassan’s presidency. In November, after Hassan had been inaugurated, former Botswanan president Ian Khama, in a speech at Lukenya University in Kenya, said, “She is an illegitimate president.” Later that month former South African president Thabo Mbeki’s foundation released a statement saying that Tanzania “currently lacks a legitimate government.”
Hassan’s victory was marred not only by the unrest that had accompanied the election but also by reports from domestic groups and election observer missions that did not find the elections to be free or fair and raised several problems that cast doubt on the integrity of the results. The mission from the Southern African Development Community noted the tense political climate, low voter turnout on election day, and the appearance of ballot stuffing in some polling stations; overall, it found that the elections did not meet the organization’s election requirements. The mission from the African Union (AU) found that the integrity of the elections had been compromised by several factors and did not comply with the AU’s election standards, similarly noting the problematic election environment, allegations that the police and military used excessive force with protesters, low voter turnout, and instances of ballot stuffing it witnessed at several polling stations. Chadema emphatically rejected the results, declaring they had “no basis in reality.” There were similar complaints of fraud regarding Zanzibar’s elections.
The controversial elections and ensuing upheaval was the most significant crisis Tanzania had ever faced and damaged the country’s reputation as a stable and peaceful country. After the elections Hassan initially took a somewhat defiant stance: Although she expressed sorrow that lives had been lost in the turmoil, she maintained that the elections had been free and fair and also noted that the government would not tolerate any attempts to destabilize the country. After several days of unrelenting international criticism, on November 14 Hassan announced there would be an investigation into the electoral unrest.