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Good practice

Tanzania Women's Constitutional Special Seats — 37.4% Women in National Assembly (1992–present)

Tanzania · Dodoma · See the Tanzania profile

Tanzania reserves ≥30% of National Assembly seats for women via party-proportional special seats. After 2020 elections women held 37.4%: 113 through the quota and 27 directly elected, ranking Tanzania among Africa's leading parliaments for female representation (IPU).

37.4 %
Women's share of National Assembly seats (post-2020 election)
113
Seats allocated via special-seats quota (post-2020)
27 of 264 (10.2%)
Directly elected women MPs (post-2020)
30 %
Constitutional minimum women's seat share
Tanzania Women's Constitutional Special Seats — 37.4% Women in National Assembly (1992–present)

Details

Maturity
Established
Promoter
United Republic of Tanzania — National Assembly / National Electoral Commission
Period
1992–present
Keywords
public sector, electoral, legislative, gender equality

Context

Tanzania has reserved a minimum share of National Assembly seats for women since 1985 (retained under multiparty politics from 1992); Article 66 of the constitution sets a 30% floor, with special seats allocated to parties in proportion to their directly elected constituency seats. An equivalent 30% mechanism applies in the Zanzibar House of Representatives.

Activities

The National Electoral Commission allocates special seats to parties after each general election in proportion to their directly-won constituency seats.

Results

After the October 2020 election, women held 37.4% of National Assembly seats: 113 through the special-seats system, plus only 27 of 264 directly-elected MPs (10.2%). Tanzania consistently ranks among the top African parliaments by female share per IDEA and World Bank data.

Conclusions

The special-seats mechanism reliably exceeds its constitutional floor, but women remain sharply under-represented among directly elected MPs; civil society and researchers have called for complementary reforms (party training, candidate support, campaign finance) to reduce long-term dependence on quota appointments.

Implementation

Implementation detail (cost, timeline, staffing, conditions for success) is not yet available for this practice.

Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

Attachments

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