Zimbabwe will hold elections on July 30, according to an announcement by President Emmerson Mnangagwa in a government notice.
These will be Zimbabwe's first-ever elections since independence from white minority rule in 1980 without the participation of 94-year-old Robert Mugabe, who resigned in November amid pressure from the military, his party and the public.
In an official statement, current Mnangagwa said that he had set July 30 "as the day of the election of the president, the election of members of the national assembly, and election of councilors."
Mnangagwa, 75, will be seeking to consolidate his hold on power and that of the ruling ZANU-PF party. The elections will be for president as well as for parliamentary and council seats.
Nelson Chamisa, 40, head of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, will be Mnangagwa's main challenger, and there are many smaller parties.
A runoff will be held on Sept. 8 if none of the presidential candidates wins an outright majority, according to Mnangagwa's proclamation.
Mnangagwa, a longtime ally of Mugabe, has pledged a "free, fair and credible" election. He has invited observers from Western countries for the first time since 2002 as part of efforts to re-engage with the international community after decades of isolation and sanctions.
The European Union signed an agreement earlier this week with Zimbabwe in preparation for deploying election observers nationwide.
Past elections in the economically troubled southern African country have been characterized by allegations of fraud and military-led violence. Mnangagwa, who took the country's reins after a military operation that dethroned Mugabe, has made repeated promises to deliver free and fair elections this year.
So far, opposition parties have been campaigning without the previous threats of violence and arrest.
More than 5 million of Zimbabwe's 13 million people have registered to vote.
Candidates for the elections must register by June 14.
On the same day the date for elections was announced, Zimbabwe's Constitutional Court ruled that Zimbabweans living in the diaspora cannot vote.
Zimbabweans working and living outside the country will be unable to vote unless they travel back home after a court ruling against postal votes. Millions of Zimbabweans reside outside the country after many fled economic and political problems that beset this once-prosperous country, although there are no official figures of Zimbabweans in the diaspora.
Also set to be missing from the July ballot for the first time in 20 years will be former Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, also former head of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), who succumbed to colon cancer this February.
In 2008, then-President Mugabe was reported to have lost to Tsvangirai in first-round results that were withheld for over a month before Mugabe called for a runoff, which saw a bloody campaign by members of the ZANU-PF militia, resulting in hundreds of opposition political activists being murdered.
A unity government followed in which Tsvangirai served as prime minister in a power-sharing deal brokered by the Southern African Development Community (SADC).