Magufuli, John Pombe Joseph, 1959–, Tanzanian political leader, Ph.D. Univ. of Dar es Salaam, 2009. He worked as an industrial chemist (1989–95) at the Nyanza Cooperative Union Ltd. before he was elected to the Tanzianian parliament as a Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) candidate. He held several ministerial posts (1995–2015), earning a reputation as an abrasive but corruption-free politician. In 2015 he was an unexpected choice for the CCM presidential candidate, and defeated former prime minister and one-time CCM member Edward Lowassa to win the post. As president he has sought to reduce wasteful spending and fight corruption, but he has also stifled political opposition and public criticism. His 2020 reelection, which was marked by an outsized margin of victory, was denounced by the opposition as fraudulent.
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