Zimbabwe’s ruling
party, Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front
(ZANU–PF) has endorsed
92-year-old incumbent president, Robert Mugabe as its favorite for the 2018 election.
The
decision was made at a meeting on Saturday, December 17th 2016.
According
to its deputy secretary Eunice Sandi Moyo, “The congress voiced its support to the president and
first secretary comrade Robert Mugabe as the sole candidate for the forthcoming
2018 elections.”
Thousands
of supporters at the party’s annual conference applauded the
endorsement; the party’s youth wing even proposed that Mugabe should rule
for life with broad powers.
Supporters
were chanting in Shona language “tongai, tongai baba” meaning “rule, rule,
father”.
Mugabe
has been in power since 1980, when the country gained independence from
Britain.
Opposition
groups have described such adulation as a sign that the president and his
loyalists are out of touch with the desperation of a nation that is suffering
massive unemployment, cash shortages and company closures.
Despite
the praise, the 92 year old president has acknowledged that some people within
the ruling party have wanted him to quit.
“Let
us stop fighting each other,” he said, referring to the succession fights that
have engulfed his party.
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