MDC Wins Zimbabwe Parliament Vote

by Rob Walker | August 25, 2008 at 11:04 am

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In a surprising move, MDC chairman Lovemore Moyo was voted the first opposition speaker since the country's independence in 1980.

Two MDC law-makers were arrested at the ceremony, after Moyo narrowly beat Mugabe-backed MDC candidate Paul Themba Nyathi 110 to 98.

As the MPs arrived for the ceremony, two MDC law-makers were arrested, a party spokesman said.
President Robert Mugabe's Zanu-PF did not field a candidate for the vote, but backed a rival MDC faction.

The BBC's Karen Allen says this was a tactic to try and engineer control of parliament, which has backfired.