By Stephen Bevan in Pretoria
The two warring factions of Zimbabwe's main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change, have agreed to reunite and back a single election candidate against President Robert Mugabe. Under the plan, Morgan Tsvangirai, the party's leader, would be their presidential candidate in the elections that Mr Mugabe announced on Friday would be held on March 29. Both factions of the MDC have been calling for the elections to be postponed until after the introduction of a new constitution, which has already been agreed between their negotiators and the ruling Zanu PF party. They also want a new and independent electoral commission and voters' roll, and the redrawing of electoral boundaries - moves that, they say, are essential for free and fair elections. However, Mr Mugabe has refused, accusing the opposition of being unwilling to face him at the polls. His decision to bring the election date forward will be the final nail in the coffin of mediation efforts between the MDC and Zanu PF, undertaken by South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki.
The MDC will formally decide whether to take part at the end of this week, when its supreme decision-making body, the national council, meets. Meanwhile, however, the two sides, one led by Mr Tsvangirai, the other by Professor Arthur Mutambara, have reached broad agreement on reunification in the face of fierce repression and deteriorating living conditions. Roy Bennett, the white former MP who is treasurer of the main faction of the Tsvangirai-led MDC, confirmed that they had reached agreement on all but a few issues. “It will be a united front that faces any election, if we go into the election," he said. "Most of the fundamentals have been agreed to." Another senior official in the Tsvangirai faction, speaking anonymously, said it was a done deal. "We have agreed to reunite but we can't say officially because there are certain processes that have to be gone through," he said.
The MDC split in 2005 when Mr Tsvangirai brushed aside its national council and decided not to take part in elections to Zimbabwe's senate. In February 2006, the breakaway faction elected Prof Mutambara as its president. However, he was unable to turn the breakaway MDC into a credible electoral force in its own right and it has steadily lost support. Gabriel Chaibva, spokesman for the Mutambara group, said: "There is willingness to chart the way forward as one party adopting one candidate."
back to top |
