Zimbabwe vote may delay 2028 polls and extend Mnangagwa term

Harare,UPDATED: Jun 19, 2026 01:32 IST

Zimbabwe lawmakers have voted for constitutional changes that would delay the country’s next elections and extend President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s term from five years to seven. The move has drawn attention to a wider pattern in Africa, where several of the world’s oldest leaders remain in power despite the continent having the world’s youngest population.

Zimbabwe’s Assembly on Thursday overwhelmingly approved amendments that would push elections due in 2028 to 2030 and add two years to the 83-year-old president’s tenure. The legislation also proposes replacing the direct popular vote for the president with selection by lawmakers, and still needs approval from the Senate, where it is also expected to pass.

Mnangagwa came to power in 2017 after the military-led removal of Robert Mugabe, who was 93 at the time and then the world’s oldest head of state. Mnangagwa is already among the world’s oldest leaders.

A recent analysis by the Pew Research Centre found that 16 of the world’s 186 national leaders are older than US President Donald Trump, who turned 80 last week. Seven of the 10 oldest leaders are in Africa, even though the continent has a median age of about 20 and more than 60% of its population is under 30, according to the United Nations.

‘The population in Africa is getting younger, but the average age of presidents is rising, and tenures are getting longer,’ said Blessing Vava, a democracy and governance researcher. ‘Zimbabwe is not an exception. It’s the continental norm,’ added Vava, who is also director of the Johannesburg-based Southern Africa Coalition for Democracy and Accountability. ‘Zimbabwe is just one data point in a much broader story of constitutional erosion for political survival.’

Cameroon’s Paul Biya, 93, is the world’s oldest head of state and has been in power since 1982 in a country where about 70% of the population is under 35. Biya first took office a year after Ronald Reagan became US president, and the United States has had seven presidents since Reagan. In Equatorial Guinea, 84-year-old Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo has been in power for 47 years and has appointed his son as vice president. In Ivory Coast, Alassane Ouattara, 84, was sworn in for a fourth term in December 2025 after an election marked by low turnout and unrest. Malawi last year elected Peter Mutharika, now 85, returning him to office after his earlier term as president from 2014 to 2020. In Uganda, 81-year-old Yoweri Museveni was sworn in for a seventh straight term in May, extending his rule to four decades.

Like Mnangagwa, Museveni, Ouattara, Biya and Obiang have changed or removed constitutional restrictions to stay in office longer. The Africa Center for Strategic Studies says leadership across Africa’s 54 countries shows sharp contrasts. About 20 countries actively uphold term limits, while others have abolished or bypassed them, or are under military governments that have suspended constitutional rule, allowing long-serving leaders to remain in office.

At the same time, younger leaders have emerged in recent years. Bassirou Diomaye Faye became one of Africa’s youngest elected leaders when he won Senegal’s 2024 election at 44. Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, 49, has been in office since 2018. Others have come to power through military takeovers. Mahamat Idriss Deby, 42, took power in Chad after his father Idriss Deby was killed fighting rebels in 2021, before winning elections in 2024. In Burkina Faso, army captain Ibrahim Traore seized power in a 2022 coup and, at 38, is Africa’s youngest ruler. Military coups have also brought younger leaders to power in Mali and Guinea.

Still, analysts say much of the continent remains dominated by an ageing political elite, limiting democratic openings for younger generations. ‘So you get 25-year-olds making up the majority of a country’s population, but 75-year-olds decide the candidate or rule,’ Vava said. ‘Youth are mobilised for votes and not for power.’ The vote in Zimbabwe, they say, reflects that broader trend across the continent.

With PTI Inputs

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