Zimbabwe’s lower parliament on Thursday passed a bill to extend presidential terms from five to seven years, a move that will see 83-year-old President Emmerson Mnangagwa remain in power until 2030.

During plenary on Thursday, 216 ​lawmakers voted in support of the bill, way above the two-thirds majority 187 votes needed ​for the bill to proceed to the upper chamber.

The bill that seeks to add two more years to Mr Mnangagwa’s tenure that ends in 2028 has now moved to the upper chamber for further debate and deliberations.

With Mnangagwa’s governing ZANU-PF party in ​control of the upper chamber, the bill is likely to sail through.

The development comes barely a year after Mr Mnangagwa said he would step down after his second term, dismissing tenure extension rumours

“I have two terms, and these terms are very definite and I am so democratic; when they come to an end I will step aside and my party will elect a successor. That’s as clear as day,” Mr Mnangagwa told journalists when asked whether he would seek tenure elongation in 2025.

Nicknamed “the crocodile,” Mr Mnangagwa came to power after a 2017 military coup ousted longtime leader Robert Mugabe. 

The coup ended Mr Mugabe’s sit tight rule dating back to Zimbabwe’s ​independence in 1980, paving the way for Mr Mnangagwa’s emergence. 

Mr Mnangagwa was later elected a substantive president in 2018. In 2023, he won re-election for a second term to end in 2028.