HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — Zimbabwe released on bail the leading opponent of planned constitutional amendments that would extend the rule of the country’s 83-year-old president and have the post elected by Parliament, not the people.
Former finance minister Tendai Biti was granted $500 bail on Monday, ordered to report to the police twice a week, and surrender his passport, his lawyer Chris Ndlovu said. Biti has also been barred from convening or addressing a public gathering without notifying the police as part of the bail conditions.
It's the highest profile detention yet of critics of the attempt to allow President Emmerson Mnangagwa to extend his rule, due to end in 2028, by two years. Police in recent months have banned meetings and arrested people for gathering to express opposition.
Biti leads the Constitutional Defenders Forum, a group campaigning against the amendments. Ndlovu said Biti and programs director Morgan Ncube are accused of holding a public meeting without notifying the police. They were detained on Saturday in the eastern city of Mutare.
There was no immediate comment from Zimbabwe authorities. But in the past, they have rejected accusations that they are eroding promises of democratic reform made after decades of rule by former leader Robert Mugabe, known for his repressive command.
Mnangagwa, who came to power after a popular military coup against Mugabe in 2017, has said he will step down when his second term ends in 2028. However, he has not publicly opposed his ruling ZANU-PF party’s push to extend his term. His Cabinet approved the amendment proposal in February before sending it to Parliament, where the ruling party holds a majority.
The proposed changes would postpone elections to 2030, allow the president to be elected by Parliament instead of by popular vote and extend both the presidential term and those of members of Parliament from five to seven years.
Biti and other critics say any amendment extending presidential terms must be approved in a referendum. But Justice Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi and Mnangagwa’s supporters say Parliament can pass the changes without one because the two-term limit would remain, even though terms would be longer.
Opposition has grown, and challenges have been filed in courts. But physical meetings have become increasingly risky. Amnesty International has described arrests as an “escalating crackdown on peaceful dissent.”
Earlier this month, law professor and opposition figure Lovemore Madhuku was admitted to a hospital after being beaten by unidentified men he claimed were police officers following a party meeting on the proposed changes. Police denied involvement, saying the gathering had been banned.
Last year, the offices of the think tank SAPES Trust were set on fire hours before it was due to host a news conference by opponents of the amendments.
Mnangagwa won reelection in a disputed poll in 2023, but international rights groups alleged a crackdown on opposition officials and supporters by the ruling party.
AP Africa news: https://apnews.com/hub/africa
FILE - Zimbabwean opposition official Tendai Biti arrives at the magistrates courts in Harare, on Aug. 9, 2018. (AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi, File)
FILE - Zimbabwe's President Emmerson Mnangagwa attends the African Union-European Union summit in Luanda, Angola, on Nov. 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus, File)
ISTANBUL (AP) — A Turkish court on Thursday issued a ruling that effectively removed the head of the country’s main opposition party by annulling a 2023 congress that elected him.
The move deals a serious blow to the beleaguered Republican People’s Party, or CHP, as it struggles under waves of legal cases targeting its members and elected officials.
An appeals court in Turkey’s capital Ankara declared the CHP congress that picked Ozgur Ozel as chairman to be null, ordering that he should be replaced by his predecessor, Kemal Kilicdaroglu.
Last year, a lower court ruled against claims of irregularities and misconduct surrounding Ozel’s election but Thursday’s decision overturned the original verdict.
The ruling led to frantic meetings at the CHP’s Ankara headquarters, further threatening the opposition’s chances of unseating President Recep Tayyip Erdogan after more than two decades in office. Large crowds gathered outside the office block and police erected barriers.
The next presidential election is due in 2028 but Erdogan can call for an early vote. His main challenger, the CHP mayor of Istanbul Ekrem Imamoglu, has been imprisoned since March last year and is currently on trial on corruption charges.
The appeals court's decision suspends Ozel and members of the party’s executive board from their duties. They will be “provisionally” replaced by Kilicdaroglu and those who held office before the November 2023 congress.
In comments to broadcaster TV100, Kilicdaroglu called for party members to remain calm. “Our party is a very large party and it will solve its own problems internally,” he said. The 77-year-old was removed following a 13-year tenure as leader, during which the CHP failed to win any national elections.
Ozel, meanwhile, attempted to rally supporters.
“I am not promising you a path to power through a rose garden,” he posted on X following the ruling. “I am promising you the ability to endure suffering but never surrender. I am promising you honor, dignity, courage and struggle!”
The CHP is expected to challenge Thursday’s ruling in the Supreme Court in the coming days.
Justice Minister Akin Gurlek, who oversaw several cases against the CHP in his former role as Istanbul’s chief prosecutor, described the court’s ruling as one that “reinforces our citizens’ trust in democracy.”
Many observers have said that the legal cases against the CHP — mostly centered on corruption allegations — are politically motivated and aimed at neutralizing the party ahead of the next election. The government, however, insists that Turkey’s courts are impartial and act independently of political pressure.
Erdogan has ruled Turkey, first as prime minister and then as president, since 2003. His electoral record suffered a serious blow in 2019 when the CHP seized control of several major cities in local elections. In Istanbul, Imamoglu emerged as a popular and charismatic figure that many felt could successfully topple Erdogan.
FILE - Republican People's Party or (CHP) leader Ozgur Ozel gestures to party members during his speech during a CHP convention, in Ankara, April 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Ali Unal, File)
FILE - Turkish CHP party leader and Nation Alliance's presidential candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu, center, joins legislators elected to the Grand National Assembly of Turkey as they attend their first parliamentary session, in Ankara, Turkey, June 2, 2023. (AP Photo/Ali Unal, File)
