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Tanzania’s election crisis

Tanzania’s President-elect John Pombe Magufuli addresses members of the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi Party (CCM) at the party’s sub-head office on Lumumba road in Dar es Salaam, October 30, 2015. (Photo by Reuters)

The general elections in Tanzania took place a month ago, yet the political fallout from the heavily contested polls continues, with the country still gripped by this seemingly unsolvable political crisis.

John Magufuli, a one-time minister in the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi Party (CCM) – emerged with 58% of the votes and a promise to end corruption in one of the world’s poorest countries. But this result has not been accepted by the four main political opposition parties that rallied behind former PM Edward Lowassa.

Despite the National Electoral Commission declaring CCM – a party that has been ruling for 54 years – the winner, opposition leaders in Tanzania and in Zanzibar have declared fraud and rejected the results.

With the main opposition candidate for the post of Zanzibar president, Maalim Seif Sharif Hamad, declaring himself the president-in-waiting, can the current relationship between Tanzania and Zanzibar survive, with 60% of Zanzibaris seeking greater autonomy? What next for a country previously thought to be one of Africa’s most stable?


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