Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe said today general elections would be held on March 29th.
The 83-year-old leader said parliament would be dissolved the day before Zimbabweans voted in the presidential and parliamentary elections.
But the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), which has threatened to boycott the polls if the expected date was not pushed back to June, said the date was a blow to South African mediation talks on a new constitution that had not finished.
Mr Mugabe is running for another five-year term. Critics accuse his government of abusing human rights, rigging previous elections and destroying what was once one of Africa's most prosperous economies.
Mr Mugabe's announcement came amid efforts by South African President Thabo Mbeki to broker a political agreement between Mr Mugabe's ruling Zanu-PF and the opposition that was supposed to pave the way for the elections.
"What Mugabe has done is a slap in the face, not only of the MDC, but of Mbeki and the Southern African Development Community," said a spokesman of the Morgan Tsvangirai-led MDC faction.
The Zanu-PF and the MDC have been in talks on revamping the constitution since June 2007 in an effort to end the political and economic turmoil and ensure future election results are accepted by all parties.