Zimbabwe parliament finalises bill to extend presidential term

Sweeping changes to Zimbabwe's constitution that will extend the presidential term by two years sailed through their final parliamentary hurdle Tuesday, now requiring only President Emmerson Mnangagwa's signature to become law.

The amendments, which also scrap direct presidential elections, have been sharply criticised by opposition figures in the country where 83-year-old Mnangagwa's Zanu-PF party holds a parliamentary majority.

The National Assembly voted 226 to 41, the speaker announced, to accept the changes proposed by the Senate when it agreed to the new legislation on June 24.

The raft of changes -- labelled a "constitutional coup" by critics -- includes a provision that would extend the presidential and parliamentary terms from five to seven years.

This means that the last of Mnangagwa's constitutionally limited two terms would be extended until 2030.

Another amendment gives parliament the power to appoint the president, doing away with direct presidential elections that were introduced in 1987, seven years after independence.

However, the later changes also open the way for a president to begin a fresh seven-year term when elected by parliament, lawyer and leading opposition figure Doug Coltart told AFP.

This loophole could also allow parliament "to continually renew its own mandate without ever returning to the electorate," he said.

"It's an interpretation that we are now going to have to fight," Coltart told AFP.

Zimbabwe's opposition, weakened by years of repression and tainted elections, charges that the amendments will entrench Zanu-PF's grip on power in the resource-rich nation, which it has governed since independence in 1980.

Mnangagwa -- nicknamed "The Crocodile" because of his ruthlessness -- came to power in 2017 in a military-backed coup that ousted Robert Mugabe at the age of 93 and after 37 years in power.