By Dr. David Kiwuwa, University of Nottingham — The Conversation Africa — 3 November 2020
Tanzania has completed its sixth cycle of multiparty elections, with President Magufuli winning a highly suspect 84% against 13% for opposition leader Tundu Lissu — an unprecedented electoral blowout. The election has been characterised by the arrest of the opposition’s presidential candidate in Zanzibar a day before the elections, the arrest of opposition chairman Freeman Mbowe for protesting results, and widespread allegations that the electoral commission acted in a partisan manner. The police force was used to intimidate, arrest and harass the opposition. Dr. Kiwuwa concludes: “The October elections have not moved the country’s democratic needle forward. Rather, they have highlighted the fundamental flaws of a political system and political class bent on retaining power at all costs.”