⁍ Tanzania’s president hopes to win another five-year term when the East African nation holds presidential and parliamentary elections on Wednesday.

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⁍ John Magufuli’s main challengers include Tundu Lissu, who was shot 16 times in 2017, and former foreign minister Bernard Membe.

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⁍ East Africa’s third-largest economy has recorded average growth of close to 7% over the last four years.

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– Tanzania holds presidential and parliamentary elections Wednesday, and President John Magufuli is hoping to win a second five-year term. Magufuli’s main challengers include Tundu Lissu, who was shot 16 times in 2017, and former foreign minister Bernard Membe. The attack on Lissu, who returned from three years in exile in July, has never been solved, reports Reuters. East Africa’s third-largest economy has recorded average growth of close to 7% over the last four years, according to official figures, as the government invested billions of dollars in infrastructure including a new railway, a hydropower dam, and planes for the national airline. The government projects economic growth of 5.5% in 2020 after COVID-19 hit key sectors such as tourism. The World Bank predicts expansion of only 2.5%. Magufuli is promising voters that his infrastructure projects will fuel growth of at least 8%. His party has already won 28 parliamentary seats where their candidates are unopposed, the electoral commission said. The ruling party, a version of which has held power since independence in 1961, won the presidency with 58% of votes in 2015 and currently holds about three-quarters of parliamentary seats. Tanzania uses a first-past-the post system. More than 29 million people are registered to vote out of 58 million citizens. They will choose from 15 presidential candidates and elect representatives for 264 parliamentary seats. The opposition and rights groups say authorities have cracked down on critical voices by closing down media and banning public rallies during Magufuli’s first term.