Former US president Barack Obama not addressing Tanzania’s 2025 elections, protests in viral video – speech from 2018
A video of former US president Barack Obama speaking passionately about democracy has been circulating online since November 2025.
In the video, Obama says:
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We have to stop pretending that countries that just hold an election where sometimes the winner magically gets 90% of the vote because all the opposition is locked up or can’t get on TV is a democracy. Democracy depends on strong institutions, and it’s about minority rights and checks and balances, and freedom of speech and freedom of expression, and a free press, and the right to protest and petition the government, and an independent judiciary, and everybody having to follow the law.
The text superimposed on the video reads: “Obama addresses the Tanzania elections.”
Other posts present his remarks in graphics that also feature photos of Tanzanian president Samia Suluhu Hassan.
Tanzania elections
Tanzania held its general election on 29 October. Hassan of the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi party was controversially declared the winner with almost 98% of the vote. The controversy came from the locking up and disqualification of the main opposition candidates, as well as claims of increased government repression.
Widespread protests erupted in several cities on election day and the security forces responded with a violent crackdown. An internet blackout and a nationwide curfew were enforced following the demonstrations.
The opposition alleged that hundreds of people had been killed. At the same time, the African Union and Southern African Development Community observers declared the elections neither free nor fair.
The Obama clip began circulating in this context. But was his speech in response to Tanzania’s 2025 elections and the resulting protests? We checked.
Video from 2018 speech
An internet search of keywords from the speech shows that it is genuine but not recent. Obama delivered this address at the 16th Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture on 17 July 2018 in Johannesburg, South Africa. But the clip has been reshared with a caption that inaccurately states that it refers to the 2025 elections in Tanzania.
Obama was referring to the worrying pattern of such elections, not directly addressing Tanzania. Some of the African countries with such controversial results around that time included Egypt in 2018, Rwanda in 2017 and Equatorial Guinea in 2016.
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There is no evidence that Obama has publicly commented on the 2025 Tanzanian polls. News reports and his social media activities show that he has been more active in US politics.
To present the video as a direct response to Tanzania is misleading. While it is fair to conclude that Obama’s general sentiment about democracy remains valid, the claim that he is “addressing the Tanzania elections” is inaccurate.