General elections were held in
Tanzania on 27 October 1985. The country was a
one-party state at the time, with the
Chama Cha Mapinduzi as the sole legal party. For the
National Assembly 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 CCM's candidate
Ali Hassan Mwinyi
Ali Hassan Mwinyi (born 8 May 1925) is a Tanzanian politician, who served as the second President of the United Republic of Tanzania from 1985 to 1995.
Previous posts include Interior Minister and Vice President. He also was chairman of the rul ...
, who succeeded
Julius Nyerere as president.
Several changes were made to the elections, including increasing the number of constituencies from 106 to 119, scrapping the 20 regional seats elected by MPs, and the introduction of 15 reserved seats for women. The voting age was reduced from 21 to 18 by the 1985 Elections Act, and a constitutional amendment the previous year had limited the president to two terms.
Voter turnout was 74% in the National Assembly election and 75% 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'', pp881-884
Results
President
National Assembly
References
{{Tanzanian elections
Presidential elections in Tanzania
General
Parliamentary elections in Tanzania
One-party elections
Tanzania