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| - Tanzania's opposition on Saturday called on its supporters to take to the streets and protest President John Magufuli's resounding election victory, which it has rejected as fraudulent, demanding a rerun. "We first call for fresh elections as soon as possible. We call for continuous, peaceful, countrywide demonstrations until our demands are met," Chadema chairman Freeman Mbowe said at a joint press conference with another opposition party, ACT-Wazalendo. Magufuli was declared the winner Friday with a crushing 84 percent of votes, while his Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) ruling party took 97 percent of the 264 elected parliament seats, in what the opposition has denounced as an illegitimate election. Magufuli's main challenger, the Chadema party candidate Tundu Lissu, won only 13 percent of the vote. The resounding victory for the CCM will further cement the power of a party that has been in power since independence in 1961, but stands accused of a slide into autocracy under Magufuli. str-fb/np/jj
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