Tundu Lissu, in an interview, comments on expectations for President Samia Suluhu Hassan, a Zanzibar native who was sworn in following former President John Magufuli’s death as Tanzania’s sixth—and first female—president.

Despite a summer of protests, African leaders are doubling down on the status quo.

The contest to replace Ebrahim Raisi, killed in a helicopter crash last month, is dominated by conservatives who have provided few signals of any major course change in the country’s regional and sec…