Parliament of Tanzania

National Assembly Bunge la Tanzania  (Swahili)
11th Parliament
Type
Type	Unicameral
History
Founded	1 January 1962
New session started	18 November 2015 (2015-11-18)
Leadership
Speaker	Job Ndugai, CCM
Deputy Speaker	Tulia Ackson, CCM
Structure
Seats	393 (2 vacant)
Political groups	CCM (275)      CHADEMA (71)      CUF (42)      ACT (1)      NCCR–M (1)      Ex officio (1)
Length of term	5 years
Elections
Voting system	Parallel voting: 264 elected from Single-Member districts by First-past-the-post 113 elected from women-only lists by Party-list proportional representation 5 elected indirectly by the Zanzibar House of Representatives 6 appointed by the President of Tanzania (incl. the Attorney General, who is an ex-officio member)
Last election	25 October 2015
Meeting place
Parliament House Dodoma, Tanzania
Website
www.parliament.go.tz

Parallel voting:

The National Assembly of Tanzania (Swahili: Bunge la Tanzania) and the President of the United Republic make up the Parliament of Tanzania. The current Speaker of the National Assembly is Job Ndugai, who presides over a unicameral assembly of 393 members.

The National Assembly of Tanzania was formed as the Legislative Council of Tanzania Mainland – then known as Tanganyika – in 1926. The Council was formed under a law enacted by the British Parliament called the Tanganyika Legislative Council Order and Council. The law was gazetted in Tanganyika on 18 June 1926. The Council consisted of 20 members when it was formed on 7 December 1926 under the Chairmanship of the Governor of Tanganyika, Sir Donald Cameron.

The first Speaker was appointed to replace the Governor as the Chairman of the Council in 1953. The office of Speaker was first occupied on 1 November 1953.

In 1958, the Council got a few elected representatives for the first time. This was the first election allowed in the colony. Of the three political parties which participated in the elections, namely Tanganyika African Union (TANU), United Tanganyika Party (UTP) and African National Congress (ANC), only TANU won in some constituencies, thus becoming the first party to have elected members on the Council.

Second elections for positions on the Council were held in 1960. These elections were part of the preparations being made to make Tanganyika an independent nation. All members appointed by the Governor were abolished and the people of Tanganyika were allowed to elect all members of the Council.

In the same year, the name of the Council was changed to Legislative Assembly. The changes made in this year were constitutionally necessary so as to allow the President of Tanganyika to give assent to all laws passed instead of the Queen of the United Kingdom.

The Parliament – the National Assembly and the President of the United Republic - obtains its mandate and functions from Chapter 3 of the Constitution of the United Republic of Tanzania. The Constitution contains Articles that grant for the establishment, composition and functions of the Parliament.

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Wikipedia