Spring Break
Zimbabwe opposition gets surprise win in assembly
Angus Shaw - Associated Press
Issue date: 8/26/08 Section: News
If the opposition continues to win support from the splinter faction, it would have the simple majority needed to cripple Mugabe by blocking funds for government ministries and projects.
Without that support, however, the assembly could mire in deadlock. That could be a boost to Mugabe, who retains power to dissolve parliament and rule through emergency regulations imposed by presidential decree.
Political observers agree the opposition cannot summon the two-thirds vote needed to impeach Mugabe, forcing the two sides to continue efforts to figure out a way to work together.
Simandla Zondi, an analyst at South Africa's Institute for Global Dialogue, said Moyo's victory marks "the beginning of power-sharing not by consensus but by issue of the electoral weight" of the opposition party.
"It gives them a significant amount of power to build the legislative assembly into a strong force for accountability, one which is really going to force the executive (Mugabe) to find a way to work with a parliament which may be led by hostile forces," Zondi said.
He said the legislative vote also could be an opposition bargaining chip in stalled power-sharing negotiations aimed at resolving the political crisis produced by Zimbabwe's disputed presidential election.
In the March 29 voting, the Movement for Democratic Change led by Morgan Tsvangirai defeated Mugabe's party for the first time in legislative races, but the official results in the presidential ballot gave no candidate the simple majority needed for victory.
Mugabe was once immensely popular, but he has seen his standing eroded by heavy-handed treatment of opponents and by the sometimes violent seizure of white-owned commercial farms that wrecked Zimbabwe's agriculture sector - the base of what had been one of Africa's rare economic success stories.
Tsvangirai, who led the initial round and claimed he was denied a victory by vote fraud, was scheduled to face Mugabe in a June run-off. But the opposition leader dropped out of the race after weeks of violence aimed at his supporters. Mugabe held a one-man runoff that was widely condemned at home and abroad.
Without that support, however, the assembly could mire in deadlock. That could be a boost to Mugabe, who retains power to dissolve parliament and rule through emergency regulations imposed by presidential decree.
Political observers agree the opposition cannot summon the two-thirds vote needed to impeach Mugabe, forcing the two sides to continue efforts to figure out a way to work together.
Simandla Zondi, an analyst at South Africa's Institute for Global Dialogue, said Moyo's victory marks "the beginning of power-sharing not by consensus but by issue of the electoral weight" of the opposition party.
"It gives them a significant amount of power to build the legislative assembly into a strong force for accountability, one which is really going to force the executive (Mugabe) to find a way to work with a parliament which may be led by hostile forces," Zondi said.
He said the legislative vote also could be an opposition bargaining chip in stalled power-sharing negotiations aimed at resolving the political crisis produced by Zimbabwe's disputed presidential election.
In the March 29 voting, the Movement for Democratic Change led by Morgan Tsvangirai defeated Mugabe's party for the first time in legislative races, but the official results in the presidential ballot gave no candidate the simple majority needed for victory.
Mugabe was once immensely popular, but he has seen his standing eroded by heavy-handed treatment of opponents and by the sometimes violent seizure of white-owned commercial farms that wrecked Zimbabwe's agriculture sector - the base of what had been one of Africa's rare economic success stories.
Tsvangirai, who led the initial round and claimed he was denied a victory by vote fraud, was scheduled to face Mugabe in a June run-off. But the opposition leader dropped out of the race after weeks of violence aimed at his supporters. Mugabe held a one-man runoff that was widely condemned at home and abroad.
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