(Corrects day of week for second reading to Wednesday in paragraph 2)
HARARE, June 2 (Reuters) – Zimbabwe’s government introduced a bill to parliament on Tuesday that would extend President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s term by two years to 2030, despite criticism from a fractured opposition and some veterans of the country’s liberation war.
The draft legislation will be debated on Wednesday at a second reading in parliament.
Mnangagwa, 83, is meant to step down in 2028 after serving two five-year stints as head of state, but his supporters want to change the constitution to extend presidential terms from five years to seven.
They also want presidents to be elected by parliament rather than by direct popular vote.
Justice Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi introduced the bill in the lower house of parliament.
Political analysts expect it to sail through as Mnangagwa’s ZANU-PF party has a two-thirds majority in the lower house and also overwhelmingly controls the upper house through traditional leaders and other proxies who generally vote with it, giving it the numbers to change the constitution.
Ziyambi has said previously that he expects the legislative process will take about a month.
ZANU-PF has ruled Zimbabwe since independence from Britain in 1980, first under longtime leader Robert Mugabe and then Mnangagwa, who took over after a 2017 coup.
On Tuesday a group of retired generals and former civil servants publicly voiced their opposition to the bill that would extend Mnangagwa’s time in power.
They said they had met with Mnangagwa last month to voice their concerns but he told them “whoever wins, wins”, referring to whether the bill would pass.
Some war veterans and activists also challenged the bill in the Constitutional Court, which reserved judgment while it considers their arguments.
(Reporting by Chris Takudzwa Muronzi and Nelson Banya;Writing by Sfundo Parakozov;Editing by Alexander Winning and Gareth Jones)
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