Zimbabwe's Senate has approved a sweeping constitutional amendment that would extend the time the country's leaders spend in office and reshape how the president is chosen — a package supporters describe as practical reform and opponents condemn as a route to entrenching power.
What the Senate approved
The upper house voted 75 to 4 in favor of the amendment on June 24, Al Jazeera reported. The National Assembly had already passed the measure the previous week by 216 votes to 42. With both chambers behind it, the bill now needs only the signature of President Emmerson Mnangagwa to become law, and he is widely expected to sign.
The amendment makes several major changes at once. It lengthens presidential and parliamentary terms from five years to seven, and pushes the next general election from 2028 to 2030 — keeping Mnangagwa in office two years beyond his current schedule. Most consequentially, it provides for the president to be chosen by parliament rather than by direct popular vote.
The government's case
The ruling ZANU-PF party, which holds a commanding majority in both chambers, frames the changes as a way to reduce the cost and disruption of frequent elections and to give the government a longer runway to deliver its economic agenda. Supporters argue that the two-term ceiling on the presidency remains in place — it is the length of each term, not the number, that changes — and that parliament is entitled to make the amendment without putting it to voters.
The criticism
Opposition figures, lawyers and civil-society groups have rejected that reasoning. Critics have called the measure a "third term by stealth," noting that lengthening a sitting president's term changes the deal voters were offered at the last election. They argue that extending the head of state's time in office is exactly the kind of change that should require a national referendum, and that routing the presidency through a parliament dominated by the governing party weakens a direct line of accountability between citizens and their leader.
Rights groups have also raised concerns about the climate around the process, citing reports of intimidation of opponents during public consultations earlier in the year.
A regional pattern
Zimbabwe's move echoes a broader trend across parts of sub-Saharan Africa, where governing parties with large legislative majorities have used amendment procedures to lengthen or loosen limits on executive power. Several countries in recent years have extended terms or revised limits through parliamentary votes rather than popular ballots. What stands out in Zimbabwe's case, analysts say, is the simultaneous shift to having parliament elect the president.
Mnangagwa took office in late 2017 after the military intervention that ended Robert Mugabe's decades in power, and has since won two presidential elections. Whether the latest changes take full effect now rests on his signature — and on any legal challenges that may follow.
