Zimbabwe: New constitution would bar Mugabe from running again

Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe. PHOTO/File

A draft of a proposed new Zimbabwean constitution would prohibit the country’s longtime president from running in the next election.

Loyalists of President Robert Mugabe already have nominated him as their sole presidential contender though and are expected to bitterly oppose the draft.

The first draft published overnight in the country’s state-run newspaper says that a candidate is disqualified from elections if he has been in power for 10 years.

Mugabe, 87, has ruled Zimbabwe since independence from Britain in 1980 and has called for elections this year to end a shaky coalition with the former opposition.

A new constitution is to be put to a referendum before any fresh elections, but the process already has been stalled by numerous disagreements.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press