President Emmerson Mnangagwa has signed into law far-reaching constitutional amendments that extend the current presidential and parliamentary terms and fundamentally alter how future presidents of Zimbabwe will be elected.
The Constitution of Zimbabwe (Amendment) Act (No. 3), 2026 gazetted as Act No. 6 of 2026, increases the presidential term of office from five to seven years and states that the amendment applies to the continuation in office of the incumbent President. The legislation also extends the life of the current Parliament from five to seven years.
The amendments mean President Mnangagwa will remain in office until 2030 instead of the previously scheduled end of his term in 2028.
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One of the most significant changes abolishes Zimbabwe's direct presidential election. Under the new constitutional framework, future presidents will be elected by Members of Parliament sitting jointly as the National Assembly and Senate replacing the nationwide popular vote that has been used since the adoption of the 2013 Constitution.
A candidate must secure more than half of the votes cast by legislators to be elected President.
The Act also transfers responsibility for voter registration and the maintenance of the voters' roll to the Registrar-General, powers that were previously exercised by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC).
It further establishes a Delimitation Commission appointed by the President to oversee electoral boundaries, replacing ZEC's role in constituency delimitation.
Other changes include expanding the Senate from 80 to 90 members, with an additional ten senators appointed by the President after consultation with the National Assembly.
The legislation also abolishes the National Peace and Reconciliation Commission and removes several constitutional functions previously assigned to ZEC.
The constitutional amendments were passed after receiving unanimous backing from Zanu-PF legislators in both Houses of Parliament despite strong resistance from opposition parties, civil society organisations and constitutional lawyers who argued that the reforms weakened democratic accountability and altered key provisions of the 2013 Constitution.
The government has defended the changes, arguing that longer terms of office will promote policy continuity and provide a stable governance environment for implementing national development programmes.
The Act states that "national development programmes benefit from stability and continuity of policies and legislative frameworks within a predictable governance environment, thereby enabling such programmes to be implemented to completion."
Critics, however, have questioned both the substance of the amendments and the decision to apply the new term provisions to the sitting President and Parliament, arguing that the changes reduce direct public participation in electing the Head of State and concentrate greater authority in Parliament and the Executive.
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The enactment marks one of the most extensive revisions to Zimbabwe's Constitution since it was adopted in 2013, reshaping the country's electoral system, governance structures and several independent constitutional institutions ahead of the next general elections.
