The end of the Cold War witnessed the proliferation of competitive authoritarian regimes in the third world and more particularly in Africa. Levitsky and Way, the founders of the concept “competitive authoritarianism”, maintain that although elections have regularly been held, their typical feature remains a blending of competition with varying degrees of authoritarianism. Yet, in their competitive authoritarianism trajectories, the United Republic of Tanzania is considered stable authoritarian. This article advances two arguments: (a) Tanzania, as a union of two countries, Tanganyika and Zanzibar, exhibits a case where organisational party strength varies across territory, thereby affecting electoral competitiveness and manipulation by the ruling regime, and (b) as a consequence, Levitsky and Way do not effectively capture the linkage and leverage factors concerning Tanzania.