United Republic of Tanzania

National Assembly

Political system
Presidential system
Structure of parliament
Unicameral
IPU membership
Yes
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About parliament

Basic information such as the official name of parliament and details of its structure and leadership. Also includes the current breakdown of MPs by sex and age, and provisions for quotas and reserved seats.

Parliament name
Bunge (National Assembly)
Chamber name
Bunge (National Assembly)
Structure & status of parliament
Lower chamber
Parliamentary term (years)
5

IPU membership

Affiliation periods
from 1984
IPU Geopolitical Group/s
African Group

Speaker

Official title
Speaker of the National Assembly
Speaker
Tulia Ackson (Female)
Date of birth: 23 Nov 1976
Term
01 Feb 2022
Additional information

Elected on 1 Feb. 2022.

Speaker terms

Click for historical data

Secretary general

Official title
Clerk
Secretary General
Baraka Ildephonce Leonard (Male)
Term
19 Sep 2024
Notes

Appointed on 19 Sept. 2024

Members

Statutory number of members
393

Notes:

Indirectly elected members: includes 113 women elected by political parties in proportion to their share of the electoral vote; and five members from Zanzibar (two of whom must be women).

Appointed members: appointed by the President (five of whom must be women).

Other: the Attorney General.

The Speaker may be designated from outside Parliament and becomes a member of parliament by virtue of holding the office of Speaker.

Principal mode of designation of members
Directly elected
Directly elected members
264
Indirectly elected members
118
Appointed members
10
Other members
1
Current number of members
393
Men
246
Women
147
Percentage of women
37.4%
Statutory number of members per country
393
Population (in thousands)
66,617
Inhabitants per parliamentarian
169,509

Age

Data on the age of parliamentarians is collected at the start of the legislature, following the most recent elections. This data is not updated during the legislature, except when parliament notifies the IPU of a change in the youngest or oldest member.

Average age of all members
No information available
Youngest member
Ng'wasi Damas Kamani (Female)
Youngest member (years)
24
Oldest member
Margaret Simwanza Sitta (Female)
Oldest member (years)
74
Number of members, by age (2020-11)
Breakdown of members by age and gender
18 - 20 21 - 30 31 - 40 41 - 45 46 - 50 51 - 60 61 - 70 71 - 80 81 - 90 91 and over Totals per gender
Male 0 4 47 36 42 61 24 1 0 0 215
Female 0 13 32 25 19 31 11 2 0 0 133
Totals per age interval 0 17 79 61 61 92 35 3 0 0 348
Total <= 45: 157 Total >= 46: 191
Percentage of members, by age
Age at the last election or renewal Overall Male Female
Percentage of MPs 30 years of age or younger
4.9% 1.1% 3.7%
Percentage of MPs 40 years of age or younger
27.6% 15% 12.9%
Percentage of MPs 45 years of age or younger
45.1% 25% 20.1%

Reserved seats and quotas

There are reserved seats in parliament for certain groups
Yes
Women
118
Other groups
5

Notes: Five members are elected by the House of Representatives of Zanzibar.

Electoral quota for women
Yes

Notes:

Women members must not make up less than 30% in the National Assembly. The special seats for women are distributed among the political parties in proportion to the number of seats awarded to them in parliament.

‘Every Political Party which contests Parliamentary elections may propose and submit the Commission names of eligible women candidates for nomination of Members of Parliament for Women Special Seats’ . (Source: https://www.idea.int/data-tools/data/gender-quotas )

Sources: Constitution, article 66, 78; Elections Regulations 2010, 86A

Youth quota
No

Links to additional information

Parliamentary website
List of members
Rules of procedure/Standing Orders
Constitution

Historical data for IPU membership

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Historical data for IPU membership
Year IPU membership
2020-09
List of values for 2020-09
No
2019-04
List of values for 2019-04
No
2018-06
List of values for 2018-06
No