Yesterday, John Magufuli was
sworn in as the next President of Tanzania. I know what you’re thinking. The
elections were only on October 25, the winner declared three days later. That was only a week ago. Shouldn’t there
be a little bit of a breather in between? Wouldn’t there be groups (most
notably the opposition) contesting the election or asking for a postponement?
In any event, the ruling party CCM (Chama
Cha Mapinduzi) wasted no time in assuming power once the president was
declared.
The results: around 7.5 million
for Magufuli, whereas Lowassa, leading candidate for Chadema, garnered 5.1
million of the popular vote. Magufuli by a nose—a very long nose that people
hope didn’t grow by election officials lying to the electorate. As in any
election, there were cries of vote rigging and ballot stuffing. Lowassa, for
one, still refuses to accept the results, which luckily has not had any far
ranging consequences.
The people who voted for Lowassa were visibly disappointed. You could tell the defeat stung. Their lone objective was not necessarily to vote against Magufuli (or even vote for Lowassa, for that matter), but to see the ruling party since the 1960’s, CCM, voted out of power. With the next opportunity a long five years down the road, Tanzanians who banked on the opposition are bracing for five more years of economic uncertainty, five more years of a questionable future (most notably the young), and five more years of the green and yellow representing them.
Whether the election was fair is not for me to say. Most people I talked to (even on the opposition’s side) predicted a Magufuli victory. This would apply to the moderates. The die-hard CCM opponents hang their heads in disappointment, in anger, and some even in fear. There was no Plan B for them. It was going to be the other guys or bust. Their hope is not in the structure and the dealings of CCM (which, to them, remains rigid), but the man who was elected president.
The international election committee certified the election as fair and transparent. The reactions since Sunday have been mixed. Aside from a few organized protests that were mostly non-violent, Tanzanians showed that they were willing to let democracy run its course.
With one exception.
To nobody’s surprise, that would be Zanzibar.
The election results in Zanzibar were nixed and proclaimed null and void before the results were even announced. That’s remarkable by anybody’s standards. Being no slouches, Zanzibar calculated the battle that would befall the mainland and might have hoped to win some concessions of their own while people went to the polls. I would expect nothing less from a semi-autonomous (more like three quarters autonomous) region.
It came as little surprise that Zanzibar refused to attend Magufuli’s inauguration. Ironic, then, that Samia Suluhu Hassan, the new vice president and first ever female to hold this office, hails from Zanzibar. Although Zanzibar was not the lone voice to speak out against Magufuli’s inauguration as the fifth president, they might very well have been the most vocal. Along with the election observers who, while not questioning Magufuli’s legitimacy, warn about the installment of a new government while Zanzibar is in limbo.
Away from politics and back to travel. Tune in next time...the next destination will be a dandy.
The people who voted for Lowassa were visibly disappointed. You could tell the defeat stung. Their lone objective was not necessarily to vote against Magufuli (or even vote for Lowassa, for that matter), but to see the ruling party since the 1960’s, CCM, voted out of power. With the next opportunity a long five years down the road, Tanzanians who banked on the opposition are bracing for five more years of economic uncertainty, five more years of a questionable future (most notably the young), and five more years of the green and yellow representing them.
Whether the election was fair is not for me to say. Most people I talked to (even on the opposition’s side) predicted a Magufuli victory. This would apply to the moderates. The die-hard CCM opponents hang their heads in disappointment, in anger, and some even in fear. There was no Plan B for them. It was going to be the other guys or bust. Their hope is not in the structure and the dealings of CCM (which, to them, remains rigid), but the man who was elected president.
The international election committee certified the election as fair and transparent. The reactions since Sunday have been mixed. Aside from a few organized protests that were mostly non-violent, Tanzanians showed that they were willing to let democracy run its course.
With one exception.
To nobody’s surprise, that would be Zanzibar.
The election results in Zanzibar were nixed and proclaimed null and void before the results were even announced. That’s remarkable by anybody’s standards. Being no slouches, Zanzibar calculated the battle that would befall the mainland and might have hoped to win some concessions of their own while people went to the polls. I would expect nothing less from a semi-autonomous (more like three quarters autonomous) region.
It came as little surprise that Zanzibar refused to attend Magufuli’s inauguration. Ironic, then, that Samia Suluhu Hassan, the new vice president and first ever female to hold this office, hails from Zanzibar. Although Zanzibar was not the lone voice to speak out against Magufuli’s inauguration as the fifth president, they might very well have been the most vocal. Along with the election observers who, while not questioning Magufuli’s legitimacy, warn about the installment of a new government while Zanzibar is in limbo.
Away from politics and back to travel. Tune in next time...the next destination will be a dandy.
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