Wiki Countries Tanzania

Tanzania

Country profile: how Tanzania fits the patterns described in the main guide, with every development linked to its source.

Last updated . Every factual claim links to its source.

This profile mirrors and is kept in sync with the Tanzania entry in the main guide's case studies.

Overview

President Samia Suluhu Hassan was declared the winner of the October 29, 2025 election with 97.66 percent of the vote after election officials barred the main opposition party, Chadema, from the ballot entirely and disqualified a leading minor-party candidate; Chadema's own leader, Tundu Lissu, was already in jail facing treason charges he denies. Security forces met election-day protests with tear gas and gunfire and imposed a nationwide internet blackout; the opposition claims up to 800 people were killed in the crackdown, a figure the government disputes, while the UN human rights office says it has confirmed at least ten deaths across three cities.

Democracy indicators

Liberal Democracy Index, 1990–2025

V-Dem's Liberal Democracy Index for Tanzania was 0.27 in 1990, peaked at 0.40 in 2011, and stood at 0.30 in 2025 (scale 0–1). Dashed lines mark events described in the timeline below. Source: V-Dem via Our World in Data, retrieved November 7, 2026. Compare with other countries in the comparison tool.

Show the data
Country199020152025Regime type, 2025
Tanzania0.270.390.30Electoral autocracy

Timeline

Key dated developments, each linked to the reporting that confirms it. Wording is kept neutral; where a government disputes a characterization, its stated position is included. See also the master timeline across all countries.

  1. John Magufuli of the ruling CCM was declared president with 58%. The opposition alleged fraud, and the Zanzibar vote was annulled. Source: Voice of America

  2. Magufuli was declared re-elected with 84%. Opposition candidate Tundu Lissu rejected the result, and internet services were sharply curtailed. Source: Africanews

  3. Samia Suluhu Hassan became Tanzania's first female president after Magufuli's death. Source: AP via Christian Science Monitor

  4. Hassan lifted the 2016 ban on political rallies, which critics said had targeted the opposition. Source: Al Jazeera

  5. Chadema leader Tundu Lissu was charged with treason, a non-bailable offence, over remarks urging election reform or boycott. He denies the charges. Source: Amnesty International

  6. The electoral commission disqualified Chadema from the 2025 elections after it refused to sign the electoral code of conduct. Source: AFP via Arab News Pakistan

  7. Hassan was declared the winner with 97.66% amid protests and internet restrictions. The foreign minister said no excessive force had been used. Source: Al Jazeera

  8. A government-appointed inquiry found 518 people died of unnatural causes in the post-election violence, 197 of them shot. Hassan defended the security forces; Chadema called the report a cover-up. Source: BBC via Citi Newsroom

  9. Human Rights Watch said no one had been arrested for the killings a year on, and that Lissu's treason trial was continuing. Source: Human Rights Watch

Analytical lens

Concepts on this wiki that help explain this case: Competitive Authoritarianism, Democratic Backsliding and Executive Aggrandizement.

See also