General elections were held in

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 ...

on 26 October 1980. The country was 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 ...

at the time, with the Chama Cha Mapinduzi as the sole legal party, following the 1977 merger of 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 ...

-based

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 ...

and the

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 ...

-based

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 ...

, which had previously operated as the sole legal parties in their areas. 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 of the 106 constituencies, 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 CCM 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 85.9% of the 6,969,803 registered voters in the presidential election and 84.7% for the National Assembly,

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 the country's population was around 18 million at the time of the election.Tanzania: One party elections 1970-1990
EISA

Results

President

National Assembly

References

{{Tanzanian elections Presidential elections in Tanzania

General A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of highest military ranks, high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers t ...

Elections in Tanzania One-party elections

October 1980 events in Africa