WORLD> Africa
Zimbabwe opposition wins vote for speaker
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-08-26 00:03

HARARE -- Zimbabwean opposition party Monday won the vote for speaker of the first parliament since the disputed election in March, according to agencies.


Zimbabwe's opposition party Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) Secretary General Tendai Biti, right, and party members are sworn in as members of parliament in Harare, Zimbabwe, Monday Aug. 25, 2008. [Agencies] 

Lovemore Moyo of the main opposition the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) won 110 votes, dealing a blow to President Robert Mugabe in a post-election power struggle, reports said.

Zimbabwean parliament convened Monday despite a deadlock in power-sharing negotiations to end a post-election crisis.

Before the swearing-in ceremony, police arrested two members of the MDC when they were entering the parliament building, and made no comment on the arrests, agencies reported.

Soon after the March election, police took up a manhunt for MDC officials over charges of murder, rape and electoral violence.

President Mugabe appointed three non-constituency members of the Senate and eight provincial governors, Zimbabwean state media reported Monday.

The MDC said the arrests of two members and Mugabe's unilateral appointment of senators would further threaten the talks between the two parties.

"Clearly they have chosen the path of arrogance, unilateralism that's a serious blow to confidence building in the talks," said the MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa.

Zimbabwean President and ruling Zano-PF candidate Mugabe won a landslide victory in the presidential run-off election on June 27.

The Zimbabwe election committee said official results showed that Mugabe, 84, won 85.5 percent of the votes in the election against opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai's 9.3 percent, defeating Tsvangirai by a huge margin.

Zimbabwe held the presidential run-off election as scheduled despite opposition MDC leader Tsvangirai's withdrawal from the race. Tsvangirai withdrew from the election citing various reasons, including political violence.

Tsvangirai received 47.9 percent of the votes in the first round of election held on March 29, followed by President Robert Mugabe's 43.2 percent.

An outright winner needs to obtain an absolute majority of the votes, otherwise a run-off needs to be held, according to Zimbabwe's law.

Observers from many countries and organizations, including the African Union and the SADC monitored the election.