Zimbabwe to have elections on July 30

Zimbabwe will hold its general elections on July 30, President Emmerson Mnangagwa said on Wednesday, the first since the army forced 94-year-old former president Robert Mugabe to resign last November.

Mr. Mnangagwa, who became president following the military take-over, has promised to deliver on free and fair elections to win over Zimbabwe’s critics at home and abroad.

Missing from the July ballot for the first time in 20 years will be Zimbabwe’s foremost political gladiators, Mr. Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai, the former opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader, the who died from cancer in February.

The vote will pit Mr. Mnangagwa against a clutch of opponents including 40-year-old Nelson Chamisa from the MDC.

In a brief statement in an official government gazette, Mr. Mnangagwa said that he had fixed July 30 “as the day of the election of the president, the election of members of the national assembly and election of councillors.”

Prospective candidates will be registered on June 14.