Tuesday, August 26, 2008

MP's detained as Zim parliament starts

from AFP:

JOHANNESBURG (AFP) — The opposition Movement for Democratic Change won a vote for the speaker of the Zimbabwe parliament on Monday, hours after two of its lawmakers were detained by police.

The two members of parliament were detained in the parliament building just before the secret ballot for speaker, which was won by Lovemore Moyo of main MDC leader's Morgan Tsvangirai's camp who got 110 votes of 208 cast.

The MDC had said the detention of its members of parliament was a manoeuvre to influence the vote for a speaker in what was the first meeting of parliament since March elections.

....

"Relations between Mutambara and Mugabe have been good lately...It's not inconceivable that the two agreed to work together in an attempt to retain control of parliament," said Caromba.

While the MDC control of parliament was unlikely to exert much influence on government policy, the ruling party had been "clearly desperate" in resorting to arrests, Caromba added.

"The fact that the MDC won despite these tactics is certainly an important psychological victory for them and a big blow for Mugabe."

No comments:

 
Free hit counters
Free hit counters