Constitution of Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe's constitution was approved by referendum on 16-17 March 2013 with about 95 percent support, gazetted on 22 May 2013 as the Constitution of Zimbabwe Amendment (No. 20) Act and fully in force by 22 August 2013, replacing the 1980 Lancaster House Constitution, which had been amended 19 times and criticized for concentrating executive power. It emerged from the 2008 Global Political Agreement and a nationwide consultation led by a Constitutional Select Committee that gathered input from more than 1.1 million people, and its 345 sections across 18 chapters establish a president, a bicameral Parliament, an independent judiciary including a Constitutional Court, and provisions devolving power to provincial and local government.