Zimbabwe will hold a presidential election next March, President Robert Mugabe announced yesterday through the official ZIANA news agency.
The announcement came after Mr Mugabe met ministers from the Southern African Development Community (SADC), who were meeting in Harare to discuss ways to stem the crisis in Zimbabwe.
By law, Zimbabwe can hold its presidential elections no later than April 2002.
The government has refused to allow monitors from the EU and the US to observe the election campaign
Mr Mugabe said yesterday he would allow observers from the 14-nation SADC grouping, the Organisation of African Unity, and the Economic Community of West African States.
"But I will have some difficulties in inviting some white men here," he said. "I would rather invite the Asians and Caribbeans, but for the European Union as a block, I doubt." Some individual EU states might be invited to send observers, he said.
"The Commonwealth, yes, we will invite them because we are a member of the Commonwealth," he said. But Mr Mugabe added that any observers must be African.
The EU and the US have been critical of Mr Mugabe's government for failing to curb widespread rights abuses. The EU warned last month that unless minimum conditions are met, it would not recognise the election result.
After meeting Mr Mugabe last month, the Belgian Foreign Minister, Mr Louis Michel, said relations with Zimbabwe had reached a "critical point". The EU could take punitive action against Zimbabwe if no headway is made in formal consultations under the Cotonou agreement that governs relations between the EU and its African, Caribbean and Pacific partners.
In the election, Mr Mugabe will face his toughest challenge for the presidency, running against Mr Mogran Tsvangirai of the Movement for Democratic Change. A survey last month gave Mr Tsvangirai a five percentage-point lead over Mr Mugabe (77), who has ruled since Zimbabwe gained independence in 1980.