Morning Edition · Tuesday, July 21, 2026Published at 1:13 AM EDT · New York

Leaders in Zimbabwe and Nicaragua Move to Extend Their Grip on Power

Zimbabwe's ruling party pushes to keep President Mnangagwa in office until 2037, while Nicaragua's Daniel Ortega declares an end to elections.

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Two governments moved on the same day to entrench executive power. In Zimbabwe, days after President Emmerson Mnangagwa signed a constitutional amendment into law, the ruling party's Harare province began pushing to extend his tenure beyond 2030 to 2037, according to AllAfrica. The effort would keep him in office well past the term limits that governed his earlier mandates.

In Nicaragua, President Daniel Ortega announced an end to elections in the republic, according to Russian state outlet TASS, pledging to prevent the right-wing opposition from taking power. The move formalizes a concentration of authority that critics have described for years and that the government presents as protecting the country from its opponents.

The two cases are on different continents but share a common mechanism. Incumbents use control of the constitution and the state to remove the electoral check on their tenure, a pattern that recurs where institutions are weak and opposition is fragmented.

Part of a tracked trend

Entrenchment of Executive Power

Incumbents in fragile states keep using constitutional and institutional control to remove electoral limits on their tenure, pushing those economies toward higher political risk and closer alignment with non-Western patrons.

Veracity: Corroborated

79/100

If true, who benefits: Incumbents in both states secure indefinite tenure; non-Western patrons such as Russia and China gain partners that need support without governance conditions.
The nuance: Ortega's end to elections is well corroborated, but the enacted Zimbabwe amendment extends Mnangagwa's rule to 2030, and the 2037 figure is a Harare-province party resolution, not law.

An open-source-intelligence read of how likely this story is true with its real nuance, not a judgment of any outlet. It assesses the claim, weighing independent and adversarial reporting. How we label confidence.

What this means

The erosion of term limits and elections raises the political risk premium on the affected economies, deterring foreign investment and complicating access to Western financing. The exposed parties are Zimbabwean and Nicaraguan citizens and any investors holding exposure to those states, with the channel running through sanctions risk, weaker rule of law and a shift toward reliance on non-Western partners such as Russia and China that do not condition support on governance.

What to watch

Whether Zimbabwe's amendment push clears the party and legal hurdles needed to actually extend the presidency, the test of intent versus capacity.
How Western governments respond to Nicaragua's announcement, since sanctions or their absence shape which foreign partners fill the gap.

Observations to monitor, not financial advice.

2 sources

Synthesized from: AllAfrica · TASS (Russian)