General elections were held for the first time in the newly formed Union of Tanzania in September 1965. The country had also just become a

one-party state A one-party state, single-party state, one-party system, or single-party system is a type of sovereign state in which only one political party has the right to form the government, usually based on the existing constitution. All other parties ...

, with the

Tanganyika African National Union The Tanganyika African National Union (TANU) was the principal political party in the struggle for sovereignty in the East African state of Tanganyika (now Tanzania). The party was formed from the Tanganyika African Association by Julius Nyerere ...

as the sole legal party on the

mainland Mainland is defined as "relating to or forming the main part of a country or continent, not including the islands around it egardless of status under territorial jurisdiction by an entity" The term is often politically, economically and/or dem ...

, and the

Afro-Shirazi Party The Afro-Shirazi Party (ASP) was a Marxist-Leninist, African nationalist Zanzibari political party formed between the mostly Shirazi Shiraz Party and the mostly African Afro Party. In the 1963 Zanzibari general election, the ASP claimed 1 ...

was the only party in

Zanzibar Zanzibar (; ; ) is an insular semi-autonomous province which united with Tanganyika in 1964 to form the United Republic of Tanzania. It is an archipelago in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of the mainland, and consists of many small islands ...

. For the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repre ...

election there were two candidates from the same party in each constituency, whilst the

presidential President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese fu ...

election was effectively a referendum on TANU leader

Julius Nyerere Julius Kambarage Nyerere (; 13 April 1922 – 14 October 1999) was a Tanzanian anti-colonial activist, politician, and political theorist. He governed Tanganyika as prime minister from 1961 to 1962 and then as president from 1962 to 1964, aft ...

's candidacy. Voter turnout was 71.8% in the National Assembly election and 82.7% in the presidential election,

Dieter Nohlen Dieter Nohlen (born 6 November 1939) is a German academic and political scientist. He currently holds the position of Emeritus Professor of Political Science in the Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences of the University of Heidelberg. An expe ...

, Michael Krennerich & Bernhard Thibaut (1999) ''Elections in Africa: A data handbook'', pp880-884 although only 32.5% of the country's 9.8 million residents were registered.Tanzania: The 1965 One-Party Elections
EISA In addition to the elected MPs, there were a further 94 unelected members; the 32 members of the Zanzibar Revolutionary Council, 20 members nominated from Zanzibar, 17 regional commissioners, 15 members chosen by the National Assembly, and up to 10 members nominated by the president.

Results

President

National Assembly

References

{{Tanzanian elections Presidential elections in Tanzania

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands and ...

1965 in Tanzania Elections in Tanzania One-party elections