Zimbabwe's ruling ZANU-PF party said on Sunday that former vice president Emmerson Mnangagwa, whose sacking sparked a military takeover earlier this week, would be its candidate for president in elections scheduled for 2018.

"Mnangagwa was elected as president and first secretary of ZANU-PF...  and was nominated as the party's presidential candidate for the 2018 general elections," said a party official at a meeting in Harare.