The Song Remains The Same: In Tanzanian Elections, Voting Is Just a ‘Mere’ Formality
NEED TO KNOW
The Song Remains The Same: In Tanzanian Elections, Voting Is Just a ‘Mere’ Formality
TANZANIA
This summer, the Tanzanian government banned foreigners from owning and operating certain small-scale businesses in a move aimed at protecting and preserving job opportunities for locals.
Under the new rules, foreigners are prohibited from participating in 15 specific business sectors, including small retail shops, eateries, salons, tourism businesses, mobile money kiosks, mobile phone services, small-scale mining, and radio and TV operations, among others.
Trade Minister Selemani Jafo said foreigners had increasingly become involved in the informal sector and that these jobs are important for Tanzanians.
The move, meanwhile, has generally been welcomed among Tanzanians amid growing concerns that foreigners, including Chinese nationals, have been encroaching on the smaller trades, the BBC wrote. The British news outlet noted that last year, traders at Dar es Salaam’s bustling Kariakoo shopping district went on strike to protest against unfair competition from Chinese traders.
“We’ve welcomed this decision because it protects the livelihoods of Tanzanian traders,” Severine Mushi, the head of Kariakoo traders’ association, told Tanzania’s Citizen newspaper.
The move by the government came in the run-up to national elections. But analysts say that attempts to please voters don’t mean much: When Tanzanians go to the polls on Oct. 29, they won’t have much choice anyway. “But this erosion of democracy will also come at the cost of (the country’s) economic potential,” wrote British think tank, Chatham House.
The incumbent, President Samia Suluhu Hassan of the Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party, which has held power since 1977, took office after the death of her predecessor, John Magufuli, in 2021, and will face election for the first time. But her most serious challenger, opposition leader Tundu Lissu, has been imprisoned since April on treason charges due to his demands for electoral reform. His CHADEMA party has been banned from the election. Another prominent contender and ruling party defector, Luhaga Mpina, is also banned from running.
That’s normal in the East African country, say analysts.
Tanzania has had six elections since multiparty democracy was introduced in 1995, and the CCM has won them all, making it one of Africa’s longest-ruling independent parties, wrote the Institute for Security Studies. Much of this electoral dominance has resulted from exclusion, censorship, electoral fraud, and violence against the opposition, it added: “The current electoral situation shows that Tanzania is sliding further into a de facto authoritarian system where voting is reduced to a procedural coronation ritual for the ruling party.”
Still, the country continues to slide: Since 2016, Freedom House has categorized Tanzania as “Partly Free” but almost a decade later, it has dropped to the “Not Free” category, signaling an increasingly authoritarian turn by Hassan, analysts say.
When Hassan took office in 2021, there was hope that she would be a different kind of Tanzanian leader, one that would allow civil liberties, halt government repression, and promote the development the country so desperately needs.
In the first year, she got off to a good start, say observers, promoting the “Four Rs” of reconciliation, resilience, reforms, and rebuilding, becoming a marked contrast to her predecessor, an authoritarian leader.
The president released political prisoners, removed restrictions on media outlets, began working with the opposition, lifted a ban on opposition party rallies, and started a program of electoral reform.
But that was then, before a crackdown on the opposition began last year, one that has been intensifying this year, and has included the abduction of and attacks on civil society activists, journalists, and religious leaders, as well as opposition politicians.
“The façade of progressive change that had been constructed under (Hassan) is crumbling and could presage a return to authoritarian rule in Tanzania,” wrote World Politics Review.
Now, according to the Council on Foreign Relations, October’s election promises to be a repeat of local elections in November, where many CHADEMA candidates were disqualified, and the CCM ended up winning 99 percent of the local races.
That means the elections will be a missed opportunity for the country, especially economically, analysts say.
Tanzania, a leading gold exporter worldwide, with abundant natural resources, and a growing economy, continues to grapple with deep poverty: Almost half of its 62 million people live on less than $3 a day, according to the World Bank.
For many voters, small-scale farmers, informal traders, street vendors, and unemployed youth, the cost of living has become untenable, say observers. New rules banning foreigners from working in certain sectors won’t change that, just create tensions with other countries in the region that may retaliate against Tanzanians working in their countries and impose trade penalties.
“People are tired,” one Tanzanian voter, Muhemsi, told Peoples Dispatch. “Access to dignified work, education, or health has become a privilege. Most ordinary people live in daily struggle while a few elites grow richer.” “
“The crisis isn’t just electoral, it’s systematic,” he added. “But people know what isn’t working. And they’re looking for alternatives.”
THE WORLD, BRIEFLY
Milei’s Party Secures Surprise Win in Midterms
ARGENTINA
Argentine President Javier Milei won a decisive victory in Sunday’s midterm elections, tightening his control over Congress and bolstering his free-market overhaul with backing from Washington, CBS News reported.
With nearly all votes counted, Milei’s right-wing La Libertad Avanza party exceeded projections by securing about 41 percent of the national vote, defeating the once-dominant Peronist opposition, which received around 31 percent.
The results showed his party and allies gained 14 new seats in the upper house of the legislature and 64 in the lower house.
While still short of a full majority, the vote’s outcome surprised many observers who had described the midterms as a referendum on Milei, elected in 2023 on promises to boost Argentina’s chronic economic malaise.
A self-described “anarcho-capitalist,” the libertarian leader imposed a series of “shock therapy” policies that devalued the peso, cut energy subsidies, and saw tens of thousands of public employees lose their jobs.
The policies briefly stabilized Argentina’s finances, producing its first balanced budget in more than a decade and reducing inflation from 200 percent two years ago to 32 percent now, the Wall Street Journal added.
Even so, his administration has been plagued by a series of scandals and mass protests against his policies that cast doubt on his popularity ahead of the vote.
But Sunday’s results now give Milei effective veto power over opposition legislation and solidify his hold on Argentina’s austerity program, which has drawn both popular anger and investor praise.
Milei thanked supporters, saying the vote was “the confirmation of the mandate we assumed in 2023.”
Praise also poured from Milei’s key ally, US President Donald Trump, who had tied billions in US financial aid to the outcome of the vote.
The Trump administration had conditioned a $20 billion currency-swap deal with Argentina’s central bank and another $20 billion in private loans on Milei’s electoral success, after warning it would withdraw support if the Peronists prevailed.
Markets reacted positively on Monday, with Argentine bonds and stocks surging and analysts describing the results as a relief for investors who had doubted Milei’s political endurance.
Observers noted, however, that the domestic strain remains severe: Inflation continues to erode real wages, and more than 250,000 jobs have been lost since Milei came to power, with at least 18,000 businesses closing, CBS noted.
Axel Kicillof, the Peronist governor of Buenos Aires province, warned Milei was ignoring “the suffering of many Argentines,” adding that US-backed loans “will do nothing to help ordinary people.”
Mali Shutters Schools and Universities Amid Fuel Shortages Caused by Militants
MALI
Mali suspended schools and universities across the country Monday as the military government continues to grapple with a fuel shortage caused by a weeks-long blockade imposed by al Qaeda-linked militants, the BBC reported.
On Monday, Education Minister Amadou Sy Savane announced that all education institutions will remain closed until Nov. 9, adding that the government is “doing everything possible” to end the crisis.
The landlocked West African nation has been hit by fuel shortages since early September, when jihadist militants from the Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin, or JNIM, announced a blockade on fuel imports.
The militants have attacked convoys of fuel tankers attempting to enter the country or making their way to the capital of Bamako. Mali imports fuel supplies by road from neighboring African states, including Senegal and the Ivory Coast.
Analysts told Reuters that the blockade is part of a pressure campaign by militant groups against the country’s military government.
While the government said earlier this month the blockade was temporary, the crisis has persisted: Some fuel stations in Bamako have closed, and the capital’s usually crowded streets have fallen silent in recent weeks.
The shortages have prompted fears of potential unrest. Last week, the US Embassy in Bamako announced that non-essential staff and their families would leave the country, warning that disruptions to fuel and electricity supplies “have the potential to disrupt the overall security situation in unpredictable ways.”
Mali has been under military rule since Gen. Assimi Goïta seized power in a 2021 coup, amid growing public frustration over worsening insecurity caused by separatist and jihadist insurgencies in the north.
Since then, both the United Nations peacekeeping mission and French forces – deployed more than a decade ago to combat the insurgency – have withdrawn from Mali. The junta has since turned to Russia and Moscow-backed mercenaries to confront militant groups.
Lithuania To Close Border With Belarus Over Smuggler Balloons
LITHUANIA
Lithuania is planning to close its border with Belarus indefinitely, the government announced Monday, after a series of balloon incidents last week disrupted air traffic in the capital Vilnius, Euronews reported.
Lithuanian Prime Minister Inga Ruginienė said the government is drafting a decision to permanently close the border and shoot down balloons entering the country’s airspace.
A final decision is expected Wednesday, with exemptions for diplomats, diplomatic mail, and European Union citizens leaving Belarus.
The announcement came a day after Vilnius closed the border following balloon sightings linked to cigarette-smuggling operations in Belarus. These sightings prompted authorities to shut down airspace over Vilnius four times last week and three times over the weekend.
At least 170 flights were disrupted, affecting more than 30,000 passengers, according to Politico.
Ruginienė and other officials suspect that balloons – used to transport contraband cigarettes from Belarus – are part of a “hybrid attack” against Lithuania.
Lithuania, a member of both the EU and NATO, lies on the border with Russia’s Kaliningrad and Moscow-aligned Belarus. Vilnius warned it will call for additional sanctions on Belarus and invoke NATO’s Article 4, which calls for urgent consultations among allies when a member’s security is threatened.
The incidents underscore Europe’s growing struggle to safeguard its airspace amid a surge in drone activity, Russian aircraft incursions, and repeated airport disruptions in recent months.
DISCOVERIES
A Head Full of Teeth
Teeth might come in different shapes and sizes, but across vertebrates, they share common features: genetic origins, physical characteristics, and location in the jaw.
Now, the latter feature is being called into question after scientists observed a row of teeth outside the mouth of a male spotted ratfish (Hydrolagus colliei).
“This insane, absolutely spectacular feature flips the long-standing assumption in evolutionary biology that teeth are strictly oral structures,” Karly Cohen, author of a new study, said in a statement. “The tenaculum is a developmental relic, not a bizarre one-off, and the first clear example of a toothed structure outside the jaw.”
Adult male spotted ratfish display rows of teeth on a cartilaginous appendage called the tenaculum, which protrudes from their forehead like an antenna when it is erect and resembles a small white peanut between their eyes when at rest. The modern adult male spotted ratfish is capable of growing seven or eight rows of hooked teeth on its tenaculum.
Researchers said males flare their tenaculum to intimidate competitors and use it to hold females by the pectoral fin to avoid drifting apart while mating.
Spotted ratfish, shark-like fish originating from the northeastern Pacific Ocean, are a type of cartilaginous fish known as chimeras, which diverged from sharks millions of years ago.
All male chimeras have this peculiar facial tenaculum, but researchers studied its development in spotted ratfish from nearby Puget Sound – an inlet in Washington State – using micro-computed tomography (CT) scans and tissue samples to analyze tenaculum development. They also compared modern ratfish to their ancestral fossils, ConnectSci News explained.
The team noted that evidence of an early similar structure is also present in females, though it never actually develops as in males, where it grows from a small cluster of cells into a little white bump that elongates between the eyes. It connects to muscles that control the jaw and then breaks through the surface of the skin and sprouts teeth.
The new teeth are attached to a band of tissue called the dental lamina, which plays a role in tooth development in the jaw.
“When we saw the dental lamina for the first time, our eyes popped,” Cohen said. “It was so exciting to see this crucial structure outside the jaw.”
Scientists have long pondered the origin of teeth, vital structures to survival and evolution, but they have mostly focused on oral teeth, without really thinking that they could be found elsewhere, too. Discovering teeth on the tenaculum prompted researchers to wonder where else teeth might be growing and what this means for the understanding of dental history.
“Chimeras offer a rare glimpse into the past,” Cohen said. “I think the more we look at spiky structures on vertebrates, the more teeth we are going to find outside the jaw.”