First post-mugabe elections likely in May or June

HARARE, Zimbabwe — Zimbabwe’s president says elections will be in May or June, as he faces pressure at home and abroad to deliver a credible vote to cement his legitimacy.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa took power from longtime ruler Robert Mugabe with the military’s help in November, and this will be the first election without Mugabe since Zimbabwe gained its indepen- dence in 1980.

The state-run Herald newspaper quoted Mnangagwa on Thursday as saying “Zimbabwe is going for elections in four to five months’ time” while on a visit to neighboring Mozambique.

Thatwouldbeaheadofthetime frame stipulated in the constitution,whichsayselectionsshouldbe between July 23 and Aug. 21. Mnangagwa had hinted they could be held earlier.

According to Veritas, a legal think tank, the president can circum- vent the constitutionally stipulated timeline only if Parliament dissolves itself, necessitating early polls.

The ruling ZANU-PF party has the majority in Parliament.

Meanwhile, a helicopter crash killed key Zimbabwean opposition leader Roy Bennett while on holiday in a remote part of New Mexico, friends and authorities said. State Police Lt. Elizabeth Armijo confirmed Bennett’s death Thursday, a day after a helicopter carrying him went down in a mountainous rural area.