The unicameral National Assembly has up to 325 members: the Attorney General, the Speaker, five members elected from the Zanzibar House of Representatives to participate in the Parliament, 75 special women's seats apportioned among the political parties based on their election results, 233 constituents seats from the mainland, and up to 10 members nominated by the president. At present, the president has nominated six members and the Speaker was elected to a constituents seat, so there are 320 Members of Parliament. The ruling party, CCM, holds about 82% of the seats in the Assembly. Laws passed by the National Assembly are valid for Zanzibar only in specifically designated union matters.

Zanzibar's House of Representatives has jurisdiction over all non-union matters. There are currently 81 members in the House of Representatives in Zanzibar: 50 elected by the people, 10 appointed by the president of Zanzibar, 5 ex officio members, an attorney general appointed by the president, and 15 special seats allocated to women. Ostensibly, Zanzibar's House of Representatives can make laws for Zanzibar without the approval of the union government as long as it does not involve union-designated matters. The terms of office for Zanzibar's president and House of Representatives also are 5 years. The semiautonomous relationship between Zanzibar and the union is a relatively unique system of government.

Tanzania has a five-level judiciary combining the jurisdictions of tribal, Islamic, and British common law. Appeal is from the primary courts through the district courts, resident magistrate courts, to the high courts, and Court of Appeals. Judges are appointed by the Chief Justice, except those for the Court of Appeals and the High Court who are appointed by the president. The Zanzibari court system parallels the legal system of the union, and all cases tried in Zanzibari courts, except for those involving constitutional issues and Islamic law, can be appealed to the Court of Appeals of the union. A commercial court was established in September 1999 as a division of the High Court.

For administrative purposes, Tanzania is divided into 26 regions--21 on the mainland, 3 on Zanzibar, and 2 on Pemba. Ninety-nine district councils have been created to further increase local authority. These districts are also now referred to as local government authorities. Currently there are 114 councils operating in 99 districts, 22 are urban and 92 are rural. The 22 urban units are classified further as city (Dar es Salaam and Mwanza), municipal (Arusha, Dodoma, Iringa, Kilimanjaro, Mbeya, Morogoro, Shinyanga, Tabora, and Tanga), and town councils (the remaining 11 communities).

Tanzania maintains an embassy in the United States at 2139 R Street NW, Washington, DC 20008 (tel. 202-939-6125.)