{"id":31105,"date":"2026-04-08T13:50:51","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T11:50:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=31105"},"modified":"2026-04-08T13:50:51","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T11:50:51","slug":"zimbabwe-moves-to-let-parliament-elect-president-extend-term","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/zimbabwe-moves-to-let-parliament-elect-president-extend-term\/","title":{"rendered":"Zimbabwe moves to let parliament elect President, extend term"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Fears are mounting in Zimbabwe as the ruling Zanu-PF party pushes ahead with constitutional amendments that could change how the country\u2019s President is elected.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The proposed changes would give parliament the power to choose the President, rather than voters, and extend the presidential term from five to seven years.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who came to power in 2017 after ousting long-time leader Robert Mugabe with military backing, later won elections in 2018 and 2023 amid disputes over their fairness.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Opposition leaders have raised concerns that these amendments could mark a new phase of political consolidation and repression. Under the 2013 constitution, a president is limited to two terms, and any move to extend these limits would require approval through a public referendum.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Political analyst Zimba Chikomo said, \u201cThis is a critical moment for Zimbabwe. The proposed changes risk undermining democratic processes and could deepen tensions across the country.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;ChannelAfrica&#8211;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":31106,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[26],"class_list":["post-31105","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"Fears are mounting in Zimbabwe as the ruling Zanu-PF party pushes ahead with constitutional amendments","published_date":"2026-04-08 13:12:02","news_description":"Fears are mounting in Zimbabwe as the ruling Zanu-PF party pushes ahead with constitutional amendments","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/31105","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/31105\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31107,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/31105\/revisions\/31107"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31106"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31105"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=31105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}