The final official results from last weekend’s parliamentary election showed the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) clinching 99 of the 210 seats in the house.
Mugabe’s Zanu (PF) party, unchallenged for the 28 years since independence, needed a two thirds majority to amend the constitution. But it only managed to win 97 seats, with a breakaway faction of the main MDC with 10 seats and Prof Jonathan Moyo retaining his seat.
Mugabe has used this device to increase his power 18 times since 1987 when a ban expired on constitutional amendments under the Lancaster House agreement that ended a bloody independence war.
Most recently the president used a constitutional amendment to expand the size of Parliament and allow him to handpick a successor in the event he wins the poll, which is now highly unlikely.
In the past, he has used constitutional amendments to seize white-owned farms without legal recourse.
He has also changed the constitution to transform himself from prime minister to executive president and to introduce a block of parliamentary seats that he personally nominated.
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