This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Zimbabwe’s president Emmerson Mnangagwa has announced that elections will be held within “four to five months”, the first since the end of Robert Mugabe’s 37-year rule last year.

Mnangagwa, who was sworn in after Mugabe was forced to resign following a military takeover in November, also reaffirmed a pledge that the elections would be “free, credible, fair and indisputable”.

“Zimbabwe is going for elections in four to five months’ time and we have to preach peace, peace and peace,” the new president, who served as Mugabe’s right-hand man for decades before taking power, said during a visit to neighbouring Mozambique.

Successive polls have been marred by violence and intimidation, leading to sanctions and the diplomatic isolation of the former British colony.

The vote is being seen as a key test of Mnangagwa’s democratic credentials and it is crucial to unlocking badly needed financial assistance from international financial institutions as well as repairing relations with western powers.

“We will ensure that Zimbabwe delivers free, credible, fair and indisputable elections to ensure Zimbabwe engages the world as a qualified democratic state,” Mnangagwa was quoted as saying by the Herald, a government-run newspaper.

Under the constitution, Zimbabwe should hold elections between 22 July and 22 August, but parliament can elect to dissolve itself, triggering an early vote. The ruling Zanu-PF party holds a two-thirds majority in parliament.

The British foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, has said the UK could take steps to stabilise Zimbabwe’s currency system and extend a loan to help it clear World Bank and African Development Bank debts, but such support depended on “democratic progress”.

In an interview with the Financial Times [£], Mnangagwa said he was keen for Zimbabwe to rejoin the Commonwealth, 16 years after its suspension from the association of former British colonies over human rights abuses, and that Brexit would help relations with the UK.

“[The UK] will need us. And we will make sure we become very close to them. So that what they’ve lost with Brexit they can come and recover from Zimbabwe,” he said.

Mnangagwa confirmed Commonwealth observers would be invited to join EU and UN counterparts to monitor the forthcoming polls.

In a further initiative which may improve Zimbabwe’s image overseas, officials are considering the establishment of a special tribunal to determine compensation for former white commercial farmers stripped of land since 2000, according to a government document.

Under Mugabe, ruling party supporters forcibly took land, often violently, from white farmers.

Last week Zimbabwe’s electoral commission announced a month-long extension to its voter registration exercise, saying that only 5 million of the anticipated 7 million people had registered under a new biometric system designed to reduce fraud.

Though Mnangagwa was reported to have told a meeting of leaders of the Zanu-PF party that he was committed to reforms, many observers are unsure the former spy chief has either the desire or ability to compel the party to forgo the tactics of intimidation and violence that have contributed so significantly to its grip on power.



Reforming Zimbabwe’s powerful security agencies will not be straightforward either. Campaigners have highlighted the case of a 45-year-old charged with undermining the authority of the president, after waving placards accusing Manangagwa and the powerful army chief, Constantino Chiwenga, of corruption and calling for the forthcoming elections to be monitored by the UN.

Analysts say Zanu-PF is the clear favourite in the elections, and would be likely to win even without employing the underhand tactics that have previously guaranteed victory.

Manangagwa, 73, will benefit from a strong wave of optimism generated by the end of Mugabe’s rule and the very public marginalisation of the deeply unpopular G40 faction close to the veteran autocrat’s wife, Grace.

Zanu-PF will also gain from the weakness of the main opposition, the Movement for Democratic Change, which has been racked by internal disputes since it was disclosed that its leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, is seriously ill.

Jonathan Moyo, a prominent member of the G40, has accused the new leaders of Zimbabwe of being afraid of elections.

“They do not want to have free and fair elections let alone credible elections,” said Moyo, who was interviewed by the BBC in an undisclosed location outside Zimbabwe.

Mnangagwa was cheered at his inauguration ceremony in November when he pledged that “free and fair elections” would be held in 2018 as scheduled and that the “people’s voice would be heard”.