President of Zanzibar President of Zanzibar The President of Zanzibar is the head of the Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar, which is a semi-autonomous government within Tanzania. The current President is Ali Mohamed Shein. The President is also the chairman of the Revolutionary Council, whose members are appointed by the President, and some of which must be selected from the House of Representatives. The President is elected by a plurality. Presidential terms are for five years, and a candidate may be re-elected only once. Following the Zanzibar Revolution in 1964, Abeid Karume became the first President of Zanzibar, as leader of the Afro-Shirazi Party.
Zanzibar century. Persian, Indian, and Arab traders used Zanzibar as a base for voyages between the Middle East, India, and Africa. Unguja, the larger island, offered a protected and defensible harbor, so although the archipelago offered few products of value, traders settled at Zanzibar City ("Stone Town") a convenient point from which to trade with the other Swahili coast towns. The impact of these traders and immigrants on the Swahili culture is uncertain. During the Middle Ages, Zanzibar and other settlements on the Swahili Coast were advanced. The littoral contained a number of autonomous trade cities. These towns grew in wealth