Tanzania's resigning vice president expelled from the governing party, deepening test to democracy

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ZANZIBAR, Tanzania (AP) — Tanzania’s governing party expelled the vice president who resigned this week, in an act of retaliation that will further test the credentials of the East African nation as a place of relative peace and stability.

A meeting of the Chama cha Mapinduzi, or CCM, party decided to punish Emmanuel Nchimbi for indiscipline, and it nominated Energy Minister Deogratius Ndejembi to become President Samia Suluhu Hassan’s deputy, CCM Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro told reporters late Wednesday.

The maneuver is believed to be part of the ongoing fallout from Hassan’s contentious election in October, when the security forces were deployed to put down riots over the disqualification of the president’s main rivals. The internet was shut down for days, a move that Hassan later apologized for and promised would never happen again.

Hassan's main rival, Tundu Lissu, is jailed over treason charges he says are politically motivated.

Nchimbi said that his resignation would take effect Sept. 4 and that he would remain “a good citizen” of his country. His decision has shocked many in a country where stability is prized under the one-party rule of CCM. Some analysts say he disagreed with Hassan over governance and other issues stemming from the government’s brutal crackdown on protests during and after the Oct. 29 election.

A postelection inquiry showed 518 people were killed in the violence. The leader of the commission that investigated the violence, Mohamed Chande Othman, said during the release of his report in April that the number of deaths was likely higher, because some families buried their loved ones without taking their bodies to morgues. He recommended an investigation into the use of firearms, as some of the witnesses told the commission that their loved ones were shot while sitting inside their houses.

A version of CCM has ruled Tanzania since independence from Britain in 1961. CCM is fused with the state, effectively in charge of the security apparatus and structured in such a way that new leaders emerge every five or 10 years.

Hassan herself was able to rise to the presidency as vice president in 2021 without incident when her predecessor, John Pombe Magufuli, died suddenly after the start of his second term.

The orderly transition sustained Tanzania’s reputation as an oasis of political stability and relative peace, a major reason for CCM’s considerable support, especially among rural voters.

___ Rodney Muhumuza reported from Kampala, Uganda. An Associated Press reporter in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, who can't be named because of security concerns, also contributed reporting.