Zimbabwe will go to the polls before July in the first elections since Robert Mugabe was ousted after 37 years in power, President Emmerson Mnangagwa said in Switzerland on Wednesday.

Attending the World Economic Forum in Davos, Mr Mnangagwa said elections will be free and fair and that he would accept the result if he loses.

He was sworn into office two months ago after Mr Mugabe resigned when threatened with impeachment after the military took over in a soft coup.

Since the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) nearly won the polls in 2000, several key elections were rigged and many voters claimed they were intimidated into supporting Mr Mugabe’s Zanu-PF party.

The EU was prevented from monitoring any of those elections. “I would welcome them . . . the European Union. why would we deny international observers coming into our country?” Mr Mnangagwa said in his first speech at the Forum.

In an interview with the BBC on Wednesday Mr Mnangagwa suggested the his predecessor would not be pursued for alleged crimes committed under his watch. Both Mr Mnangagwa and Mr Mugabe have been accused of widespread human rights abuses in intimidating opposition.