A commission of inquiry instructed by the Tanzanian government to investigate violence during and after Tanzania's October 2025 elections found that a total of 518 people had died of "unnatural causes," including 502 civilians and 16 members of the security forces, The Citizen reported on April 23. Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan praised security forces for preventing the country from "sliding into anarchy" and said the commission of inquiry's report had found that the violence was planned and coordinated, while the opposition Chadema party called the report a "cover-up."

Hassan was reelected to a second term in October 2025 with 98% of the vote, but the poll was widely seen as unfair because candidates from the country's two leading opposition parties were barred from running for the presidency. Amid heightened political grievances, the country faced unprecedented unrest during and after the October 2025 elections. Opposition parties claimed that several thousand people were killed, with certain reports claiming that up to 10,000 people were killed.