President Emmerson Mnangagwa registered on Thursday for Zimbabwe's first national elections of the post-Mugabe era, with his main rival Nelson Chamisa hoping to rally younger voters against the generation that won independence.

 

Western governments and investors will be closely watching the July 30 presidential and parliamentary ballots, for which monitors got clearance to deploy for the first time since 2002.

 

Mnangagwa and Chamisa, who also signed up on Thursday, are both campaigning on a pledge to revive an economy crippled by a legacy of often violent seizures of land from white commercial farmers and a black economic empowerment drive that targeted foreign-owned businesses.

 

The ruling ZANU-PF says Zimbabwe is at a critical stage of transition requiring an experienced politician like Mnangagwa.

 

While Zimbabwe lacks a reliable polling system, an unofficial survey released last week in its second city Bulawayo by the Mass Public Opinion Institute put Mnangagwa on 42 percent and Chamisa on 31 percent, while 25 percent declined to disclose a preference.

 

Chamisa faces the additional hurdle of a divided opposition vote.

 

Joice Mujuru, a Mugabe deputy for 10 years before she was ousted from the ruling party in 2014, and Thokozani Khupe, who leads a splinter MDC faction after falling out with Chamisa, also entered the presidential race.

 

Another four lesser-known candidates also registered.

 

Meanwhile, all attempts by Chamisa to have Mujuru and Khupe join the MDC and its alliance of smaller parties have proven futile.

 

If no single presidential candidate wins an absolute majority next month, a run-off is scheduled for September.

 

Source: https://read.bi/2yc4pdr