NAIROBI
\nAround 700 people have been killed in three days of election protests in Tanzania, the main opposition party said Friday, with protesters still on the streets in the midst of an Internet blackout. President Samia Suluhu Hassan had sought to cement her position and silence critics in her party with an emphatic win in Wednesday\u2019s election, in which her main challengers were either jailed or barred from standing.
\nBut the vote descended into chaos as crowds took to the streets of Dar es Salaam and other cities, tearing down her posters and attacking police and polling stations, leading to an Internet shutdown and curfew.
\nWith foreign journalists largely banned from covering the election and a communications blackout entering its third day, information from the ground has been scarce.
\nThe main opposition party, Chadema, said clashes continued between protesters and security forces in the commercial hub on Friday. \u201cAs we speak the figure for deaths in Dar (es Salaam) is around 350 and for Mwanza it is 200-plus. Added to figures from other places around the country, the overall figure is around 700,\u201d Chadema spokesman John Kitoka told AFP.
\n\u201cThe death toll could be much higher,\u201d he warned, saying killings could be happening during the nighttime curfew.
\nA security source told AFP they were hearing reports of more than 500 dead, \u201cmaybe 700-800 in the whole country.\u201d
\n\u201cWe are talking hundreds of deaths,\u201d a diplomatic source told AFP.
\nThe United Nations said \u201ccredible reports\u201d indicated 10 dead, in the first information released by an international body, while Amnesty International said it had information of at least 100 killed.
\nMultiple hospitals and health clinics were too afraid to talk directly to AFP.
\nHassan had yet to comment on the unrest and local news sites had not been updated since Wednesday.
\nThe only official statement came from army chief Jacob Mkunda late Thursday who called the protesters \u201ccriminals.\u201d
\nIn Zanzibar, a tourist hotspot with its own semi-autonomous government, a spokesman for Hassan\u2019s Revolution Party (Chama Cha Mapinduzi: CCM) said the Internet would return when the situation calmed.
\n\u201cThe government knows why they have shut the Internet. There are people who have tried creating tension in Dar es Salaam and they have destroyed a lot of things,\u201d spokesman Hamis Mbeto told reporters.
\nZanzibar \u2018robbed\u2019
\nIn Zanzibar, the CCM had already been declared winner of the local vote on Thursday.
\nThe opposition party, ACT-Wazalendo, rejected the result, saying: \u201cThey have robbed the people of Zanzibar of their voice… The only solution to deliver justice is through a fresh election.\u201d
\nA senior party official told AFP that ballot boxes had been stuffed, people allowed to vote multiple times without ID and their election observers kicked out of counting rooms.
\nAt a meeting place for opposition supporters on Zanzibar, there was dismay and fear.
\n\u201cThere has never been a credible election since 1995,\u201d said a 70-year-old man, referring to Tanzania\u2019s first multi-party vote.
\nNone of those interviewed gave their names.
\n\u201cWe are afraid of speaking because they might come to our houses and pick us up,\u201d said one.
\nCrackdown
\nHassan has faced opposition from parts of the army and allies of her iron-fisted predecessor, John Magufuli, since she took over upon his death in 2021, analysts say.
\nThey said she wanted an emphatic victory to cement her position, and the authorities banned the main opposition party, Chadema, and put its leader on trial for treason.
\nIn the run-up to the vote, rights groups condemned a \u201cwave of terror\u201d in the east African nation, including a string of high-profile abductions that escalated in the final days.
\nMuch public anger has been directed at Hassan\u2019s son, Abdul Halim Hafidh Ameir, accused of overseeing the crackdown.
\nACT-Wazalendo was allowed to contest the local election in Zanzibar, but its candidate was barred from competing against Hassan on the mainland.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NAIROBI Around 700 people have been killed in three days of election protests in Tanzania, the main opposition party said Friday, with protesters still on the streets in the midst of an Internet blackout. President Samia Suluhu Hassan had sought to cement her position and silence critics in her party with an emphatic win in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":511953,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-511941","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n