Chair of Chadema party arrested on terrorism charges before planned protests

Authorities in Tanzania have launched a wide-ranging crackdown on opposition parties, days after the country’s controversial leader, John Magufuli, was declared the winner of last week’s contested election.

Police detained Freeman Mbowe, the chairman of the Chadema party, on Monday, along with other senior party officials before planned protests against what the opposition claim was widespread electoral fraud.

Opposition dismisses John Magufuli’s landslide victory as a ‘travesty’

Tanzania’s president John Magufuli has won re-election, the national electoral commission said on Friday, after a contest that has been dismissed by the opposition as a “travesty” due to widespread irregularities.

Magufuli received 12.5m votes in Wednesday’s presidential ballot, while his main challenger, Tundu Lissu of the Chadema party, received 1.9m votes, the commission said.

Opposition and rights groups criticise John Magufuli, who looks on course for second term

Opposition leaders in Tanzania have accused the government of undermining democracy and curtailing fundamental freedoms on the eve of elections in which John Magufuli, one of Africa’s most controversial leaders, could win a second term as president.

Magufuli, whose forthright style has earned him the nickname “the bulldozer”, won praise when he came to power in 2015 for his high-profile efforts to crack down on corruption and government spending, but he has since been accused of mismanagement of the Covid-19 pandemic and repression of dissent.