1985 Tanzanian general election

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 election was effectively a referendum on CCM's candidate Ali Hassan Mwinyi, who succeeded Julius Nyerere as president.

1985 Tanzanian general election

27 October 1985 (1985-10-27)

Presidential election

Nominee Ali Hassan Mwinyi Party CCM Popular vote 4,778,114 Percentage 95.68%

President before election Julius Nyerere CCM Elected President Ali Hassan Mwinyi CCM

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.

Results

President

Candidate		Party	Votes	%
	Ali Hassan Mwinyi	Chama Cha Mapinduzi	4,778,114	95.68
Against			215,626	4.32
Total			4,993,740	100.00
Valid votes			4,993,740	96.37
Invalid/blank votes			188,259	3.63
Total votes			5,181,999	100.00
Registered voters/turnout			6,910,555	74.99
Source: Nohlen et al.

National Assembly

Party		Votes	%	Seats
	Chama Cha Mapinduzi	4,768,997	100.00	169
Appointed and indirectly-elected members				105
Total		4,768,997	100.00	274
Valid votes		4,768,997	95.70
Invalid/blank votes		214,324	4.30
Total votes		4,983,321	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		6,736,863	73.97
Source: IPU, Nohlen et al.