The women’s league of President Robert Mugabe’s party want him to stand in elections likely next year and rule Zimbabwe “forever”, state media reported on Sunday.
“We endorse your candidature. We are saying: stand in the next election and rule forever,” ZANU-PF Women’s League secretary Oppah Muchinguri was quoted as saying by the Sunday Mail.
“Your work cannot be compared to that of anyone else. Do not leave us.”
Muchinguri was speaking at the league’s annual assembly Saturday attended by Mugabe.
The 86-year-old Mugabe, who has ruled the southern African country since 1980, shares power with his former rival Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai following a political deal signed in 2008.
Last week Mugabe said Zimbabwe’s unity government should dissolve within months and called for elections next year despite stalled efforts at political reform.
“We do not want to pass June (2011) without elections. We want acceleration of pace,” Mugabe told the women.
No election date has been set but both Mugabe and Tsvangirai’s parties say they are ready for the ballot.
The unity government has faced crippling tension over the allocation of key positions since its creation in 2009.
Mugabe stirred fresh conflict within the power-sharing government last week when he appointed ambassadors to the United Nations, the European Union and South Africa without consulting Tsvangirai.
Tsvangirai has asked the UN and the EU not to recognise the ambassadors.
The prime minister says he should be consulted on all appointments in terms of the Global Political Agreement that created the unity government between the two political rivals.
The EU said it had noted the matter with “great concern”. — AFP