Harare: After taking over from ousted president Robert Mugabe six months ago, Zimbabwe's new leader, Emmerson Mnangagwa, promised to hold free and fair elections this year. On Wednesday, he announced that the vote would take place on July 30.

It will be the first such ballot in a generation that does not include Mugabe, 94, who ruled Zimbabwe for 37 years. Despite having once proclaimed that "only God will remove me," Mugabe resigned in November after lawmakers began impeachment proceedings against him.

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With the death of Mugabe's long-time rival Morgan Tsvangirai, a former labour leader and prime minister, in February, the new election will pit Mnangagwa, 75, against numerous other opponents. They include Nelson Chamisa, 40, who replaced Tsvangirai as leader of the Movement for Democratic Change party.

"It is going to be a very difficult election," Ibbo Mandaza, a Zimbabwean political analyst and executive director of the Sapes Trust research institute in the capital Harare, said of the planned elections for president, the National Assembly and local councils.