"This congress is requested to declare Comrade Mugabe as candidate for the 2008 presidential election," Emmerson Mnangagwa, ZANU-PF secretary for legal affairs, said moments before the motion was accepted by acclamation.

The motion was followed by cheers from delegates at the party congress in the capital Harare. All 10 ZANU-PF provinces backed the endorsement which had been expected after Mugabe said he was willing to seek another term as leader.

Earlier senior party officials showered praise on Mugabe who has ruled Zimbabwe since independence from Britain in 1980. They described him as a distinguished revolutionary who defended the rights of Zimbabweans and Africans.

They did not mention the widespread accusations at home and abroad that Mugabe's government has stifled political opposition, abused human rights and turned Zimbabwe's once prosperous economy into one of Africa's poorest.

Mugabe, who has denied charges he rigged the last three major elections in the southern African nation, is almost certain to win next year's vote against an opposition weakened by internal divisions and years of government crackdowns.