Zimbabwe's governing Zanu-PF party has confirmed President Robert Mugabe as its candidate for the 2018 elections, writes BBC online Sunday.
Mr Mugabe has been in power since independence from Britain in 1980.
At the party's conference, the Zanu-PF youth wing even proposed that Mr Mugabe should be declared president for life.
However, there have been unprecedented protests this year against Zimbabwe's economic turmoil and Mr Mugabe's leadership. He responded by warning there would be no Zimbabwean uprising similar to the "Arab Spring".
Mr Mugabe has blamed the country's economic problems on sabotage by Western critics of his policies.
The Zanu-PF has also suffered serious infighting as factions battle it out to succeed Mr Mugabe once he eventually leaves.
- Grace Mugabe is Robert Mugabes second husband. Married in 1996 in an extravagant ceremony. They have three children
- Nicknamed "Gucci Grace" or "DisGrace" by her critics who accuse her of lavish spending
- Along with her husband, is subject to EU and US sanctions, including travel bans
- Praised by supporters for her charitable work and founding of an orphanage (børnehjem)
- Has taken over the leadership of the Zanu-PF women's league
In the mid-1980s, Zanu-PF gave Mr Mugabe a big piece of land in the upmarket Harare suburb of Borrowdale to build a home on.
But it lay undeveloped for a decade-and-a-half until Grace Mugabe (49) became involved.
Now the first family have vast properties, businesses and farms dotted around the country, mainly in the rich western and northern Mashonaland provinces, BBC notes
