The streets of Zanzibar were awash in green and yellow on Friday, October 24, 2025, as President Samia Suluhu Hassan arrived for her final election rally ahead of Tanzania’s October 29 vote. The ruling party’s colors—emblazoned with the slogan "Work and Humanity"—adorned more than 50 billboards along the main road from the airport. Supporters, some packed into lorries and buses, others weaving through the crowd on motorbikes, flocked to see the woman they call "Mama," the nation’s first female president and a figure whose leadership has become the subject of both hope and controversy.
Zanzibar, an island renowned for its spices and beaches, is also Hassan’s birthplace. Yet, despite her local roots and the ruling party’s historic dominance, the run-up to the election has been anything but relaxed. Amnesty International, in a report released the week before the vote, described a “wave of terror” and “systematic human rights violations” in Tanzania. The tension was palpable in Stone Town, where a heavy police presence and a helicopter displaying the president’s poster underscored the seriousness of the occasion. Journalists from AFP were denied entry to the rally grounds, despite proper accreditation—a telling sign of the climate surrounding this year’s election.
Hassan’s rise to power in 2021 was itself historic, coming after the sudden death of her predecessor John Pombe Magufuli. Initially, there was cautious optimism that she would relax the government’s repressive tactics. According to AP, Hassan began her tenure by lifting a ban on opposition rallies outside the electoral season and recruiting associates who had previously fallen out of favor under Magufuli. Her vision was summed up in the "Four Rs": reconciliation, reforms, rebuilding, and resilience. Foreign direct investment rebounded, a welcome change after Magufuli’s aggressive tax policies had alienated investors.
But as the October 29 election approached, critics argued that Hassan’s presidency had taken a darker turn. Amnesty International’s Roland Ebole told AP, “Her role as head of state and commander-in-chief places her directly in charge of the country’s security apparatus, giving her the authority to end the violations and restore a culture of respect for human rights.” Instead, Ebole and other observers say the repression has only intensified, with abuses ranging from arbitrary arrests and enforced disappearances to extrajudicial killings.
Hassan’s political party, Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM), has ruled Tanzania since independence in 1961. Despite regular elections and the appearance of stability, the country has never experienced a transfer of power from one party to another. The opposition, particularly the Chadema party, has long tried to challenge CCM’s grip. Chadema’s leader, Tundu Lissu—who survived an assassination attempt in 2017—is currently jailed on treason charges. The party refused to participate in the current election without significant reforms, leading to its disqualification by electoral authorities. Another popular candidate, Luhaga Mpina of the Alliance for Change and Transformation-Wazalendo party, was also barred from running for allegedly violating his party’s constitution.
As a result, Hassan now faces 17 other candidates, but rights groups and election analysts say she is running effectively unopposed. According to the U.S.-based Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED), "Tanzania’s election will follow over four-and-a-half years of sustained repression by a CCM-controlled state that is keen to avoid the electoral pressures" faced by ruling parties elsewhere in Africa. The group noted that after CCM received its lowest-ever share of the vote in 2015, it "since neutered Tanzania’s opposition through administrative, legal, and extra-legal means."
The consequences of this approach have been severe. In June, a United Nations panel of human rights experts cited more than 200 cases of enforced disappearance since 2019, expressing alarm at "a pattern of repression" ahead of the election. Notably, two pro-democracy activists from Uganda and Kenya who attended Lissu’s treason trial were reportedly sexually abused before being deported. More recently, Humphrey Polepole, Tanzania’s former ambassador to Cuba, resigned his post in early 2025, citing a loss of "peace of heart and faith" in a government he accused of violating the rule of law. Hassan revoked his diplomatic status, and he was allegedly abducted in Dar es Salaam in October; his whereabouts remain unknown.
Despite these troubling developments, Hassan’s supporters remain steadfast. At the rally in Stone Town, Mzee Bobea, dressed in CCM regalia, declared, “We see her as a gift from God.” Issam, a tuktuk driver, echoed this sentiment, crediting her with visible development and dismissing critics as motivated by gender bias: “I support Mama 100 percent because the work she is doing is visible.”
Yet, not everyone is convinced. Some voters in Zanzibar, feeling disenfranchised by the absence of credible opposition, said they planned to leave the presidential ballot section blank. “Who will I elect if all the opposition leaders have been blocked? There is no purpose,” said Suleimani Issa Ali, a local businessman. Others expressed outright frustration. “I will not vote. It is a waste of my time. There is no democracy. It is pure stupidity,” a taxi driver told AFP. Another opposition supporter complained, “There’s no development in Zanzibar if you compared to mainland.”
Hassan, for her part, has vowed to "protect our unity government with all our strength." Zanzibar, which has maintained a unity government with the Tanzanian mainland since 1964, elects its own president and legislators. While rights groups note that elections on the island are generally a bit freer than on the mainland, they have often been marred by violence. Early voting in Zanzibar is set to begin on Tuesday, October 28.
Hassan’s campaign has centered on promises of opportunity in crop and livestock farming—Tanzania’s top industries—and her slogan "Work and Dignity". Despite the economic rebound and her pro-business policies, critics argue that she has missed a chance to become a true consensus leader. Many Tanzanians, as reported by AP, “expected more freedom, especially for political rallies and the press,” but now feel that "things are going back to the old ways."
For ordinary citizens, the hope is for peace and stability above all. Local trader Fatuma Mohammed summed it up succinctly: she simply wished for calm, “so that life can move on smoothly after the elections.”
The days ahead will determine whether Tanzania moves toward greater openness or remains locked in the cycle of repression and one-party rule that has defined its post-independence history. For now, the billboards, the slogans, and the heavy security presence all point to an election where the outcome seems certain, but the country’s future remains anything but.
