Tanzania: One year after the election, 518 deaths acknowledged and Tundu Lissu's verdict on November 6

One year after the Tanzanian presidential election of October 29, 2025, victims of the repression are still awaiting justice, Africanews reported on October 29, 2026. A presidential commission appointed by the government has set the death toll at 518. Human rights organizations and the opposition, however, speak of several thousand killed.

On that day, President Samia Suluhu Hassan was re-elected with 98% of the vote, after most of the opposition was excluded from the ballot. The protests that followed were suppressed by security forces.

An official toll that families contest

Twaha Bomeza, 61, was injured on voting day by shrapnel in his eye. "I tried to run away, but I was shot at," he told AFP, adding that he lost four front teeth in his fall.

The gap between the 518 acknowledged deaths and the thousands claimed by associations remains wide: according to Africanews, neither the details of the official count nor the composition of the commission have been made public.

Charges of terrorism and treason

The Legal and Human Rights Centre, a Tanzanian organization, is providing a defense for approximately 56 people charged with terrorism, according to Africanews. Amnesty International accuses the authorities of using anti-terrorism legislation to silence critics and instill fear.

Tundu Lissu, the main opposition leader, is being tried for treason and the verdict is expected on November 6, 2026. He has begun a hunger strike. Another opposition official, John Pambalu, was charged with treason in recent days. The dissident Twaha Mwaipaya, who was abducted in Kenya, is still missing. All these individuals are presumed innocent.

"A dictatorship," according to Chadema

Chadema, the main opposition party, stated in a press release that "Tanzania has become a dictatorship," a state that guarantees neither the rule of law nor human rights. The party has declared seven days of mourning.

Activist Tito Magoti accuses the state of seeking to "deny and erase the history of their complicity" in the massacre. For Anna Bwana, of Twaweza East Africa, "the state is very nervous" and ready to use a heavy hand. The United States ambassador wrote on X that these crimes would not go unnoticed.

What comes next

November 6, 2026, will be a test: the court will decide whether the country's main opposition leader is convicted of treason or acquitted. Defending the rights of Africans also means holding African powers accountable.