HARARE, Zimbabwe — Zimbabwe lawmakers voted on Thursday for constitutional changes that would defer elections and extend the tenure of the country’s 83-year-old president from five to seven years.
The vote underscores the staying power of Africa’s aging leaders on a continent that has some of the world’s oldest rulers despite boasting the youngest population globally.
Zimbabwe’s National Assembly overwhelmingly approved constitutional amendments that would postpone elections due in 2028 to 2030 and extend President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s term by two years.
The bill, which also proposes shifting presidential elections from direct popular vote to selection by lawmakers, has to be approved by the Senate, where it is also expected to pass.
If the bill is passed, Mnangagwa would join a club that includes some of the world’s oldest and longest-serving leaders in Africa. He came to power in 2017 after the military-led ouster of the late Robert Mugabe, who at 93 was then the world’s oldest head of state.
Recent analysis by the Pew Research Center showed that 16 of the world’s 186 national leaders are older than U.S. President Donald Trump, who turned 80 last week. Seven of the 10 oldest leaders are in Africa, according to the analysis, 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 is the world’s oldest head of state at 93. He has been in power since 1982 in a country where about 70% of the population is under 35. Biya first assumed office a year after Ronald Reagan became U.S. president, and the United States has had seven presidents since Reagan.
Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo has been in power for 47 years in neighboring Equatorial Guinea. At 84, he remains Africa’s longest-serving ruler and has even appointed his son as vice president.
In Ivory Coast, Alassane Ouattara, 84, was sworn in for a fourth term in December 2025 after winning an election marked by low turnout and unrest.
Malawi last year elected Peter Mutharika, now 85, returning him to office after serving as president from 2014 to 2020.
While in Uganda, 81-year-old Yoweri Museveni - a U.S. ally on regional security who has faced accusations of authoritarianism from critics - was sworn in for a seventh consecutive term in May, extending his rule to four decades.
Like Mnangagwa, Museveni, Ouattara, Biya and Obiang have altered or removed constitutional restrictions to prolong their time in office.
According to the Africa Center for Strategic Studies, leadership tenure on the continent of 54 countries is marked by stark contrasts. About 20 African countries actively uphold term limits, the think tank says, while others have abolished or circumvented them, or are under military regimes that have suspended constitutional rule, allowing long-serving leaders to remain in office.
At the same time, Africa has seen a new generation of younger leaders emerge in recent years.
Bassirou Diomaye Faye became one of the continent’s youngest elected leaders when he won Senegal’s 2024 election at age 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, seized 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 Traoré took 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 aging political elite, leaving limited opportunities for younger generations to assume power democratically.
“So you get 25-year-olds making up the majority of a country’s population, but 75-year-olds decide the candidate or rule,” said Vava, the analyst. “Youth are mobilized for votes and not for power.”
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