New York Times: “With opposition figures harassed and arrested, news coverage severely restricted and social media mysteriously slowing down, many have come to two predictions about Tanzania’s election on Wednesday: The president will win. And the country will lose. ‘This is the election where any resemblance Tanzania bears to democracy probably ends,’ said Dan Paget, a politics lecturer at the University of Aberdeen in Britain who has written extensively about the Tanzanian president, John Magufuli.”
“The election is widely seen as a referendum on Mr. Magufuli, who is seeking a second five-year term, and on the governing Party of the Revolution, which has dominated Tanzanian politics under one name or another since independence in 1961. Elected on an anti-corruption platform, Mr. Magufuli, popularly known as ‘the Bulldozer,’ has been lauded for his efforts to strengthen the economy, cut wasteful public spending and revive infrastructure projects. But his administration has also been accused of stepping up repression. The government has cracked down on dissent, muzzled media and right groups and passed legislation reinforcing the party’s hold on power.”