A coronation not a contest - Tanzania's first female president faces little opposition

BBC News - WorldCenterEN 6 min read 100% complete October 27, 2025 at 05:01 AM

AI Summary

long article 6 min

Tanzania's first female president, Samia Suluhu Hassan, is facing her first presidential election on Wednesday with little opposition due to the disqualification of major contenders. President Samia, 65, took office in 2021 after the death of former President John Magufuli and initially initiated reforms aimed at reconciliation and rebuilding. However, over the past two years, political space has shrunk, with increased targeting of government critics and opposition voices reported. The electoral commission cleared 17 presidential candidates but barred the main opposition party, Chadema. Freedom House downgraded Tanzania's status from "partly free" in 2020 to "not free" last year due to these developments.

Key Topics & Entities

Freedom House 40% International Monetary Fund (IMF) 50% World Bank ×250% BBC ×260% John Magufuli ×280% Samia Suluhu Hassan ×4100% Tanzania ×5100%

Keywords

tanzania 100% first female president 90% samia suluhu hassan 80% coronation 80% election 70% freedom house 60% opposition 60% partly free 50% authoritarian clampdown 50% political space 40%

Sentiment Analysis

Negative

Score: -0.30

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Source

BBC News - World

Political Lean

Center (0.00)

Far LeftCenterFar Right

Classification Confidence

90%

Geographic Perspective

Tanzania

This article was automatically classified using rule-based analysis. The political bias score ranges from -1 (far left) to +1 (far right).

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tanzania first female president samia suluhu hassan coronation election freedom house opposition partly free authoritarian clampdown political space

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