The ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party of Tanzania on Sunday elected Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete as its national chairman, according to reports reaching here.

The election was held during the seventh national congress of the party held in Dodoma in central Tanzania.

Kikwete, also president of the United Republic of Tanzania, therefore succeeded former Tanzanian President Benjamin William Mkapa to become the fourth national chairman of the party, which has a membership of 4.6 million, about one tenth of the Tanzanian population.

The previous three CCM chairmen were also presidents of the country and they were Julius Nyerere from 1954 to 1990, Ali Hassan Mwinyi from 1990 to 1996 and Mkapa since 1996.

Mwalimu Julius Nyerere was the president of the then Tanganyika from 1962 to 1964 and then president of the united republic from 1964 to 1985.

Mwinyi served as president of the united republic from 1985 to 1995 while Mkapa served as president of the united republic from 1995 to 2005.

Kikwete was elected president of the united republic in December 2005.

The CCM party was created in January 1977 as the merger of the Tanganyika African National Union (TANU), the then ruling party in Tanganyika, and the Afro-Shirazi Party (ASP), the then ruling party in Zanzibar.

The TANU/CCM has been dominating the politics of Tanzania since the independence of Tanganyika in 1961. And since 1977 it has also been the ruling party in Zanzibar, an Indian Ocean archipelago that is part of the united republic.

The CCM party has won all the elections of 1995, 2000 and 2005, presidential and legislative, held both in Tanzania at state level and in Zanzibar since the united republic resorted to multi-party politics in 1992.

Tanzania now has 17 fully-registered political parties, with the Civic United Front being the biggest opposition that has an estimated membership of 400,000 in the country.

In the last national elections for Tanzania's presidency and the National Assembly held on December 14 of 2005, CCM candidate Jakaya Kikwete won 80.28 percent of the vote. Out of the 232 parliamentary seats filled through direct election, the CCM won 206.

In the last elections for Zanzibar's presidency and the House of Representatives held on October 30, 2005, CCM candidate Amani Abeid Karume won 53.18 percent of the vote while the party won 30 seats out of 50 in the isles parliament.

Source: Xinhua