Zimbabwe's main opposition Wednesday announced it would boycott next month's elections to a newly created upper house of parliament, which it had described as the last straw for democracy.
"After intense debate and discussion, whereupon the guiding question was whether we compromise with or take on the ZANU-PF dictatorship ... the council resolved to stay out of the ZANU-PF senate project," Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change party said, referring to President Robert Mugabe's ruling party.
Earlier MDC spokesman Paul Themba Nyathi had said the proposed Senate, which was approved by Mugabe as part of a slew of widely denounced constitutional reforms, was the "last nail in the coffin for what remains of democracy."
The MDC, which currently holds 41 seats in the 150-seat parliament, has already dismissed the upper house as a distraction from Zimbabwe's mounting economic and political troubles.
Elections to the Senate are due on November 26. The governing Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) party says the senate will buttress legislative authority but critics contend the move is aimed at further strengthening its stranglehold on parliament where it can already pass key decisions on its own.
The 66-member upper house of parliament will comprise 10 traditional chiefs, 50 elected senators and six appointed by Mugabe and was created under a controversial constitutional amendment.
Other clauses in the controversial amendment include provisions barring white farmers from legally challenging land grabs and stopping government critics from going overseas.
Comments
Comments are closed.