Tanzanian opposition leader Freeman Mbowe arrested over planned protest

Tanzanian police have arrested the chairman of the main opposition party Chadema as well as other top leaders, ahead of planned protests Monday against an election the party said was rigged.

Chadema and fellow opposition party ACT-Wazalendo rejected results which saw President John Magufuli win a second term with 84 percent of results and his ruling party take 97 percent of seats in parliament.

Chadema chairman Freeman Mbowe had called for countrywide protests starting Monday as well as fresh elections.

"We arrested four people including Freeman Mbowe last night and this morning we arrested three others," said the Dar es Salaam police chief Lazaro Mambosasa.

"We arrested them in a meeting to organize the protests which we already banned. Some of these people travelled from upcountry to Dar es Salaam and are trying to use youths to take it to the streets."

Mambosasa said those arrested had "admitted that they were organising criminal activities such as setting petrol stations, markets, vehicles and some government offices on fire."

The arrests, and a heavy security presence, appeared to have deterred potential protesters, and demonstrations never took place.

Chadema's presidential candidate Tundu Lissu won only 13 percent of the vote, after denouncing widespread fraud and intimidation of the opposition during the election and following years of repression and jailing of government opponents.

Lissu, who returned to Tanzania in July after three years abroad recovering from 16 bullet wounds sustained in an assassination attempt, said his party's agents had been kicked out of polling stations and ballot boxes had been stuffed.

The result of presidential elections cannot be contested in Tanzania although the parliamentary outcome can be challenged.

"The door is closed for us to challenge the presidential results in court, and that is why we have decided to take this to the people, who have the power," Lissu said.

Magufuli was first elected in 2015, and alarm has grown over his slide into autocracy amid a crackdown on the opposition and the media.

In semi-autonomous Zanzibar, which also elects its own president, the opposition's presidential candidate was arrested twice last week and attempts to protest were quickly and brutally crushed by security forces.

"If they think most people support the winners, why should they use police to suppress and threaten people who planned peaceful protest," said Ahmed Issa, a resident of Buguruni area in Dar es Salaam.

Most foreign media were not allowed into the country to cover the election, while local and international observer missions were also not present.

Bulk text messaging, WhatsApp and Twitter remained blocked for the seventh day in a row.

"We are deeply concerned by reports of election irregularities, politically motivated arrests, and violence during Tanzania's elections last week," US secretary of state Mike Pompeo wrote on Twitter.

US ambassador Donald Wright urged the government to "cease these targeted arrests, release detainees, restore telecommunications, and afford due process under the law to all citizens."

The United Kingdom's Minister for Africa James Duddridge said in a statement Monday his country was "deeply troubled by the reports of violence and heavy-handed policing in the elections, including the arrest of opposition political leaders."

He called for a "transparent investigation by the electoral authorities into reported irregularities, and for all involved, including the security forces, to act with restraint to ensure the peaceful resolution of tensions".