Tanzania police arrest opposition party official after deadly election protests
Chadema party says deputy secretary general arrested and calls election of incumbent president fraudulent
William Christou
Sat 8 Nov 2025 10.17 EST
Share
Tanzanian authorities have detained a senior official from the main opposition party, Chadema, amid a spate of arrests in connection to deadly protests during elections last week.
More than 1,000 people were
killed by security forces during the demonstrations, according to Chadema and human rights bodies. The Tanzanian government has said these figures were exaggerated but did not give its own figures.
Chadema said its deputy secretary general, Amani Golugwa, was arrested by police on Saturday. Authorities are seeking the arrest of nine more people, including others in the party.
Tanzanian authorities have charged more than 200 people with treason after last week’s protests – a charge that could carry the death penalty, though no executions have been carried out in the country since 1995.
The incumbent president, Samia Suluhu Hassan, was deemed the winner of the election, with
98% of the vote, but the opposition – which was barred from participating – condemned the results as fraudulent.
Tanzania’s Hassan declared landslide winner in election that triggered violent protests
Read more
The government claimed the elections were free and fair, but the main rivals were not allowed to run, and election observers said the vote was not democratic and cited instances of ballot stuffing.
“The police force, in collaboration with other defence and security agencies, is continuing a serious manhunt to find all who planned, coordinated and executed this evil act,” a police spokesperson said in a statement.
Chadema’s secretary general, John Mnyika, and the head of communications, Brenda Rupia, were among those wanted for arrest.
The leader of Chadema, Tundu Lissu, was
charged with treason in April and not allowed to run in the elections. The exclusion of Lissu and other political figures from the ballot fuelled the ensuing protests.
According to Amnesty International, in the run-up to the elections, Tanzanian authorities carried out enforced disappearances, arbitrary arrests and extrajudicial killings.
Protests were held on 29 October in cities across Tanzania, leading to violence and clashes with police, a statement from authorities said.
Amnesty International said authorities cut off internet access and used excessive force in an attempt to suppress post-election protests.
About 700 killed in Tanzania election protests, opposition says
Read more
Rights groups said the government had cracked down on individuals perceived to be associated with the protests, including the prominent businesswoman Jenifer Jovin, who was accused of encouraging protesters to buy gas masks.
President Samia acknowledged that there were deaths, but blamed the unrest on foreigners, stating: “It was not a surprise that those arrested were from other countries.”
Despite the protests, Samia was sworn into office on Monday. Her inauguration ceremony was televised but closed to the public and held at a military parade ground in the capital.
Samia became Tanzania’s first female president in 2021 after the then president, John Magufuli, died in office while she was his vice-president. She was initially praised by activists for easing political repression, but has since been accused of reversing course.
Year-end appeal: please help if you can
$201,708 of $2,000,000 goal
At this unsettling time
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you close this tab, we want to ask if you could spare 37 seconds to support our most important fundraising appeal of the year.
In his first presidency, Donald Trump called journalists the enemy; a year on from his second victory, it’s clear that this time around, he’s treating us like one.
From Hungary to Russia, authoritarian regimes have made silencing independent media one of their defining moves. Sometimes outright censorship isn’t even required to achieve this goal. In the United States, we have seen the administration apply various forms of pressure on news outlets in the year since Trump’s election. One of our great disappointments is how quickly some of the most storied US media organizations have folded when faced with the mere specter of hostility from the administration – long before their hand was forced.
While private news organizations can choose how to respond to this government’s threats, insults and lawsuits, public media has been powerless to stop the defunding of federally supported television and radio. This has been devastating for local and rural communities, who stand to lose not only their primary source of local news and cultural programming, but health and public safety information, including emergency alerts.
While we cannot make up for this loss, the Guardian is proud to make our fact-based work available for free to all, especially when the internet is increasingly flooded with slanted reporting, misinformation and algorithmic drivel.
