Tanzanian President Dr. Samia Suluhu Hassan has criticized post-election protests in cities including Dar es Salaam, Arusha, and Nwanza, following her landslide victory on October 29.
The electoral commission said Hassan won 97.66 percent of the vote, with turnout at 87 percent.
In her speech after being declared winner, she thanked security forces for maintaining order and called the unrest unfortunate and acts that are unpatriotic.
Hassan, 65, had sought to cement her position and silence critics in her party with emphatic victory, helped by the main opposition candidates being either jailed or disqualified.
But having crackdown and the lack of options sparked mass protests around the country.
Receiving her presidential certificate in Dodoma, Suluhu described her 98% win as shared triumph for all Tanzanians.
“The government strongly condemns those incidents” said Hassan as she accepted a winner’s certificate on state television.
“When it comes to the national security…there is no alternative but to employ all defence measures”, Saluhu said.
The main opposition party, Chadema, told AFP “no less than 800 people have been killed by security forces since Wednesday.
Hassan was elevated from Vice-President on the sudden death of her predecessor, John Magufuli, in 2021.
Rights groups say she saw a “wave of terror” in East African nation ahead of the vote, including a string of high-profile abductions that escalated in final days.
Chadema was barred from taking part in the election, and its leader put on trial for treason.
Despite heavy security presence, election descended into chaos as crowds took to the streets across the country, tearing down her posters and attacking police and polling stations, leading to an internet shutdown and curfew.
-9News Nigeria.
