But analysts say that as Samia set her eyes on a second term, she started seeing internal party pressure within the CCM and the resurgence of the opposition as threats to her ambition. <\/p>\n
For the last three years, she had reshuffled the cabinet multiple times and replaced military and intelligence chiefs, in moves seen as weeding out loyalists of her predecessor.<\/p>\n
“Within the CCM, she resorted to a Magufuli script of manipulating the party, centralising power and creating a cabal of trusted loyalists as the new fulcrum of power,” said Prof Kagwanja. <\/p>\n
Samia’s calculated political manoeuvres – which earned her the nickname “Simba jike” (Swahili for lioness) among her supporters – paid off as the CCM nominated her as its presidential candidate in January. <\/p>\n
Months to the election, a wave of abductions, arrests and the brutal killings of opposition members gripped the country, shattering hopes for reforms and reconciliation. <\/p>\n
The political space had drastically shrunk in the run-up to the recent election, that was overshadowed by an internet blackout and a curfew.<\/p>\n
Hundreds may have died in post-election unrest according to the opposition. The authorities are yet to release an official death toll. <\/p>\n
The violence was shocking for a nation that had cultivated an image of calm, consensus, and order for nearly six decades. <\/p>\n
“The myth of Tanzanian exceptionalism lies in ruins,” stated Mr Onyango-Obbo.<\/p>\n
In an uncommon critique, the African Union and the regional Southern African Development Community said Samia’s electoral victory did not meet accepted democratic standards, citing ballot-stuffing, repression and systemic flaws.<\/p>\n
The main opposition, the Party for Democracy and Development (Chadema), dismissed the results as “completely fabricated”. <\/p>\n
“Samia’s challenge was not winning the election. Instead, it was to win the hearts and minds of Tanzanians and East Africans that she was elected in a fair contest. Lamentably, Samia chose coronation. She closed all avenues to a fair contest,” said Prof Kagwanja. <\/p>\n
As she begins to serve her second term in office, analysts say Samia is facing mounting international scrutiny which could undermine her legitimacy to lead the East African country.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"But analysts say that as Samia set her eyes on a second term, she started seeing internal party…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":252944,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":{"0":"post-252943","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252943","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=252943"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252943\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/252944"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=252943"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=252943"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=252943"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}