NAIROBI - Tanzanian opposition presidential candidate Tundu Lissu has been arrested, his Chadema party said on Monday after police thwarted planned opposition protests against last week's election by detaining several officials of the main opposition party.
The opposition has demanded a re-run of the vote, citing what they called widespread suspected fraud, and called for protests against the outcome, which returned President John Magufuli to office with 84% of the vote on Oct. 28.
Chadema gave no more details of Lissu's arrest, and police were not immediately available for comment.
"We have not been able to protest," Tundu Lissu, who garnered an official 13%, told Reuters earlier, citing heavy deployments of the police on the streets and the arrest of several party officials and supporters.
Chadema chairman Freeman Mbowe, former lawmaker Godbless Lema and the former mayor of Ubungo municipality, Boniface Jacob, were all arrested early on Monday. "I got a message around midnight that they had been taken in," Lissu said.