The embattled president was also set to meet with the military commander who placed him under house arrest to negotiate his departure.
President Robert Mugabe’s own party voted to oust him as its leader on Sunday, a day after thousands of Zimbabweans took to the streets to celebrate his stunning fall from power after a military takeover.
The governing ZANU-PF party, which held emergency talks at its headquarters in the capital, Harare, to consider the fate of the president who had ruled for 37 years, appointed the previously fired vice president, Emmerson Mnangagwa, as Mr. Mugabe’s successor, according to the BBC.
Cheers and dancing broke out in the building after the vote, according to video shared on social media.
The developments came as Mr. Mugabe was set on Sunday to meet with the military commander who had placed him under house arrest, in a bid to negotiate a dignified departure, the state-run broadcaster said.
The downfall of the 93-year-old autocratic ruler began with a military takeover on Wednesday. Once respected as a liberation icon who went into exile after fighting colonial rule, Mr. Mugabe became isolated from fellow party officials.
Fellow veterans of the fight for independence from Britain joined the march on Saturday as Zimbabweans poured into the streets and danced, sang and shouted with joy at the prospect of Mr. Mugabe’s rule ending.
The central committee of ZANU-PF party also expelled his wife, Grace Mugabe, as head of the ZANU-PF Women’s League, according to local media reports. Mrs. Mugabe, widely seen as his likely successor, has not been seen in public since Wednesday. On Sunday, she was barred from the party for life.
Chris Mutsvangwa, a war veteran who has led the campaign to oust Mr. Mugabe, said, “We are going all the way,” as he went into the meeting, according to Reuters.
He said that Mr. Mugabe should just resign and leave the country: “He’s trying to bargain for a dignified exit but he should just smell the coffee.”
A majority of the party’s leaders had recommended expelling Mr. Mugabe — a harsh rebuke of the man who had controlled the organization with an iron grip since the country gained independence from Britain in 1980.
On Sunday, the youth league of Zimbabwe’s ruling party said Mr. Mugabe should resign and take a rest as an “elder statesman,” while his wife should be expelled from the party “forever,” The Associated Press reported.
The youth league leader Yeukai Simbanegavi praised the military on Sunday for moving against what she described as a group of “criminals” led by Mrs. Mugabe, The A. P. said.
“It is unfortunate that the president allowed her to usurp executive authority from him, thereby destroying both the party and the government,” she said.
Mr. Mugabe was placed under house arrest by the army commander Constantino Chiwenga, who said that the action was aimed at rounding up ZANU-PF officials implicated in economic crimes that have ravaged the economy of the southern African nation.
Several other government officials — including Jonathan Moyo, the minister of higher and tertiary education; and Saviour Kasukuwere, a local government minister — were arrested by the military and faced prosecution.
Mr. Mugabe, said to be resisting calls to step down and pushing for a little more time as president, was to meet face to face with the army commander in the second round of talks about the president’s future. A Catholic priest, Fidelis Mukonori, was mediating. Others on the negotiating team include the acting intelligence director, Aaron Nhepera, and the Mugabe spokesman George Charamba.
After considering Mr. Mugabe’s ouster, the party committee was to weigh sending a recommendation to Parliament to impeach the president.
Innocent Gonese, the parliamentary chief whip from the Movement for Democratic Change — Tsvangirai party, told The A. P. that when Parliament resumes on Tuesday, the chamber will “definitely” put in motion a process to impeach Mr. Mugabe.
“If Mugabe is not gone by Tuesday, then as sure as the sun rises from the east, impeachment process will kick in,” Mr. Gonese said.
The political situation in Zimbabwe, where elections are scheduled for next year, is also on the agenda for a summit meeting in Angola on Tuesday of four countries in the southern African regional bloc: South Africa, which sent envoys to negotiate with Mr. Mugabe on a departure; and Angola, Tanzania and Zambia.
