President Emerson Mnangagwa has announced elections to take place on July 30. The date for the first votes to be held since Robert Mugabe was pushed out was reported by the state-run Herald newspaper.

Referred to as ”harmonized election”, the polls will give voters the opportunity to choose a president, members of the country’s parliament and councilors of local governments.

The July 30 ballot will be the first of its kind after the long-serving leader of the southern African nation was deposed in a de facto coup in late 2017. President Mnangagwa who assumed office after Mugabe’s fall from power will be challenged by Nelson Chamisa. The leader of the Opposition party, Movement for Democratic Change-Tsvangirai (MDC-T)

Neba Benson,

BaretaNews Foreign Correspondent/Analyst