Ageing leaders, extra terms: Africa’s incumbency question in 2026

Africa is the youngest continent on earth. The median age of its population is under 20. Yet some of its presidents are among the oldest and longest-serving leaders in the world, and 2026 has done little to change that.

The long-serving club

• Cameroon: Paul Biya, 93, has ruled since 1982. He won an eighth term in October 2025 that runs to 2032. This year he spent a record 73 days abroad, reportedly for medical treatment, prompting rumours about his health.
• Uganda: Yoweri Museveni, 81, won a seventh term in January 2026 with about 72 percent of the vote, extending a rule that began in 1986. Term limits were removed in 2005 and the presidential age limit in 2017.
• Côte d’Ivoire: Alassane Ouattara won a fourth term in October 2025 with about 90 percent of the vote, after major opposition figures were excluded from the race. He argued that a new constitution adopted in 2016 reset his term count.
• The Gambia: Adama Barrow, who once promised to serve only a three-year transition, is seeking a third term on 5 December. The country has no term limits after a draft constitution that would have introduced them was rejected in 2020.

How terms get extended

Political scientists describe several common routes:

1. Removing or changing term limits through constitutional amendments, as in Uganda.
2. Adopting a new constitution and arguing that the clock restarts, as in Côte d’Ivoire.
3. Blocking constitutional reform that would introduce limits, as in The Gambia.
4. Keeping strong rivals off the ballot through courts, electoral commissions or arrests.

Governments usually defend these moves as the will of voters, or as necessary for stability and continuity. Critics argue that they weaken institutions and leave countries unprepared for the moment when a long-serving leader leaves office.

The counter-examples

The picture is not all one way. Many African countries regularly change leaders through elections:

• Zambia has changed presidents only at the ballot box since 1991. Hakainde Hichilema, who defeated an incumbent in 2021, has begun what the constitution says is his final term.
• Botswana saw its ruling party, in power since independence in 1966, lose the 2024 election and hand over power peacefully.
• Senegal elected an opposition candidate, Bassirou Diomaye Faye, in 2024 after the Constitutional Council and mass protests forced the government to hold the vote it had tried to postpone.
• Ghana has alternated power between its two main parties several times since 1992.

Why it matters

Long tenures can bring stability, but they also carry risks. When a leader has ruled for decades, succession becomes uncertain, institutions often bend around one person, and young people may feel excluded from politics. Cameroon’s debate over who would govern if its president could not shows how quickly uncertainty can spread.

Surveys by Afrobarometer have found that large majorities of Africans support presidential term limits. Whether leaders respect that preference remains one of the most important questions in African politics.

Sources: AllAfrica, 19 January 2026; Africanews, 27 October 2025; RFI and Jeune Afrique via AllAfrica, August 2026; Wikipedia, 2026 Gambian presidential election; Sunday World, 2 September 2026.

Top photo: The African Union Conference Centre in Addis Ababa (file photo). Photo: Elmschrat Coaching-Blog, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0