LUSAKA, Zambia

Zimbabwe's Cabinet backed a draft law on Tuesday to change the constitution and allow President Emmerson Mnangagwa to remain in office until at least 2030.

Mnangagwa, 83, was due to leave office in 2028 after completing two five-year terms, but the draft legislation would change the constitution to extend the presidential term from five to seven years.

Other proposed changes in the bill include extending the term for members of parliament from five to seven years, enabling the president to be elected by parliament rather than through a direct popular vote by citizens, and allowing the president to appoint 10 more senators, increasing the total Senate seats to 90.

Addressing a post-Cabinet news conference in the capital Harare, Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi said the bill would be sent to the speaker of parliament and published in an official gazette before lawmakers could consider it.

Ziyambi said that once the bill was gazetted, a 90-day period would be granted for public consultations preceding the compilation of reports by relevant parliamentary committees before the bill was introduced for formal debate.

At the same briefing, Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Minister Jenfan Muswere said the objective behind the legal reform was to reduce election-related disruptions and enhance policy continuity, political stability and the efficiency of state architecture.

Mnangagwa, nicknamed "the crocodile" for his political cunning, first came to power in 2017 after a military coup ousted longtime leader Robert Mugabe.

At the time Mugabe's deputy, Mnangagwa, a war veteran against the colonial government, won his first election as president in 2018 and the second in 2023, though his challengers disputed the results.

He leads the ZANU-PF party, which has ruled Zimbabwe since independence in 1980, but has lately been engrossed in internal leadership wrangles over who is to succeed him.