Around 700 people have been killed in three days of election protests in Tanzania, the main Opposition party said on Friday (October 31, 2025), 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’s election, in which her main challengers were either jailed or barred from standing.

But 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.

With foreign journalists largely banned from covering the election and a communications blackout entering its third day, information from the ground has been scarce.

The main Opposition party, Chadema, said clashes continued between protesters and security forces in the commercial hub on Friday.

“As 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,” Chadema spokesman John Kitoka told AFP.

“The death toll could be much higher,” he warned, saying killings could be happening during the nighttime curfew.

A security source told AFP they were hearing reports of more than 500 dead, “maybe 700-800 in the whole country”.

“We are talking hundreds of deaths,” a diplomatic source told AFP.

The United Nations said “credible reports” indicated 10 dead, in the first information released by an international body, while Amnesty International said it had information of at least 100 killed.

Multiple hospitals and health clinics were too afraid to talk directly to AFP.

Ms. Hassan had yet to comment on the unrest and local news sites had not been updated since Wednesday.

The only official statement came from army chief Jacob Mkunda late on Thursday (October 30, 2025) who called the protesters “criminals”.

Hundreds of protesters took to the streets for a second day of demonstrations in Tanzania on Thursday (October 30, 2025) after a disputed election, while Amnesty International reported that two people have died.

After the protests broke out on Wednesday (October 29, 2025), the government shut down the internet, imposed a curfew and deployed the military to the streets.

The ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi or CCM party, which has been in power since independence in 1961, sought to extend its rule in Wednesday’s election, with presidential candidates from the two main opposition parties barred from running.

The incumbent, President Samia Suluhu Hassan, faced 16 other candidates from smaller parties who barely campaigned.

The electoral body on Thursday announced through state television that President Hassan had taken an early lead, garnering 96.99% of the votes in 8 out of 272 constituencies tallied on early Thursday.