Tanganyika adopted a new constitution in 1962 that abolished the monarchy, and the National Assembly (the majority of whom were members of the Tanganyika African National Union Party) thoroughly revised the new constitution to favour a strong executive branch of government, namely a president.[3] Tanganyika then became a republic within the Commonwealth of Nations, with Julius Nyerere as the President of Tanganyika. After the Union of Zanzibar and Tanganyika, an interim constitution adapted from the 1962 Constitution became the governing document. Although meant to be temporary, the constitutions remained effective until 1977.[3]
The unification of Tanganyika and Zanzibar in 1964 followed Nyerere's principle of Ujamaa which entailed a strong "territorial nationalism."[4]