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Supporters of Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe chanting "tongai, tongai baba" (rule, rule father) endorsed on Saturday the 92-year-old leader for a 2018 election run, report AFP.
The endorsement, which is likely to result in his 36-year rule being extended, was greeted with thunderous applause by thousands of party faithful attending the ruling ZANU-PF's annual conference.
The veteran leader, a former hero of the nation's revolutionary struggle who took power in 1980 after helping free Zimbabwe from British colonial rule, has always avoided naming a successor or laying out plans to retire. He once quipped that he would rule until he turned 100.
The conference, held in the southeastern town of Masvingo, expressed "its support to the president and first secretary comrade Robert Mugabe as the sole candidate for the forthcoming 2018 elections", deputy secretary Eunice Sandi Moyo said.
The absence of a clear successor to Mugabe has sparked infighting including verbal exchanges on social media in recent weeks between factions angling for his position.
Accepting his endorsement, Mugabe called for unity.
"We agreed that conflicts should end. Infighting should end. The party ideology should be followed," he said.
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