Washington, May 4 (IANS): The Republican bid for the 2016 US presidential election is expected to get three new contestants -- doctor Ben Carson, business executive Carly Fiorina and former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, media reported.

According to reports on Sunday, reputed neurosurgeon Ben Carson will be the first Afro-American to join the Republican candidature race on Monday.

Carson is to make the official announcement in his native city of Detroit, according to Efe news agency reported.

Fiorina, former chief executive officer of Hewlett-Packard, is also expected to confirm her candidature with a video and later interact with citizens on social networking sites.

Fiorina is the first Republican female aspirant for the presidential post.

In 2010, she lost the election to the US Senate to the Democrat Barbara Boxer in California.

Baptist minister and television personality Huckabee is to announce his candidature at an event in the city of Hope in Arkansas.

Huckabee contested the 2008 Republican presidential primaries, during which he won the Iowa caucuses.

The win demonstrated his strong connection with the rural Evangelical electorate, but he lost momentum while trying to win over the electorate's most moderate section.

The three will join Republican senators Rand Paul (Kentucky), Ted Cruz (Texas) and Marco Rubio (Florida) in the bid to secure their party's presidential candidature.

While analysts see slim chances for any of the three, their participation reflects the diversity of proposals in the Republican primaries in the race for the White House.

Heavyweight conservatives, including former Florida governor Jeb Bush and current Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker are considered to be favourites, though their candidatures are still undecided.

So far, the Democrats have come up with only two candidates: former secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, and independent Senator from Vermont, Bernie Sanders, a self-proclaimed Socialist.