The President of Zimbabwe, Emmerson Mnangagwa, has obtained the endorsement of his party, Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF), to be the presidential candidate for the next general elections in the country, which will take place in July 2023.
The ruling party has unanimously elected Mnangagwa as president and first secretary of the party, as well as sole presidential candidate, at the National People’s Congress, which is held every five years.
In this way, the 80-year-old Zimbabwean president consolidates his power in the party he has led since he succeeded Robert Mugabe five years ago.
The president has assured in a speech after his election that this decision allows him to continue «serving the party and the country» in his quest to achieve an «empowered and prosperous middle and high income» society by 2030, as reported by the ‘Herald’ newspaper.
«Let me express my deep gratitude to all of you, my fellow comrades in ZANU-PF who are gathered here (… I humbly accept. The election further emboldens and rekindles my commitment to servant leadership and selfless sacrifice for the party and the country as a whole,» he added.
So far, the Zimbabwean leader has presided over a program of economic reforms during his first term, which has allowed the country’s economy to grow by 7.2 percent in 2021.
However, the country is rampant with inflation, as it has an annual price growth rate of 269 percent, leading the African state to have the highest inflation in the world, as reported by Bloomberg.
The president’s plans for his second term are to carry out «cross-cutting reforms» to bring «stability and predictability» to the economy. «The policies of the ZANU-PF-led government are lifting many out of poverty and bringing them to prosperity,» he has argued in his speech.
Mnangagwa came to power in November 2017 following the resignation of President Mugabe after 30 years in power and harassed by Armed Forces and by countries in the region because of the political crisis unleashed after the removal of Mnangagwa himself as vice president.
