MDC seeks new election if talks fail

from Zimbabwemail

HARARE - Zimbabwe's main opposition party said on Tuesday that only fresh elections would resolve a dispute over who controls key cabinet posts, a make-or-break issue under a power-sharing pact signed with President Robert Mugabe.

Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai, leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, have clashed over control of ministries and weeks of face-to-face talks have failed to break the deadlock.

The political impasse has raised fears that last month's power-sharing deal may collapse and plunge Zimbabwe's economy deeper into crisis.

"The preferred trajectory is to conclude the negotiations, but in the absence of the ideal, Zimbabweans have no other way out but to decide who should have power through an election which is credible," MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa said.

Tsvangirai beat Mugabe in a presidential election on March 29 but with too few votes to avoid a June run-off, which was won by Mugabe unopposed after Tsvangirai pulled out, saying his supporters had been subjected to violence and intimidation....