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MDC to boycott senate polls
12/10/2005 22:16 - (SA)
Harare - Zimbabwe's main opposition on Wednesday decided to boycott next month's elections for a newly created upper house of parliament, saying polls in the country were a farce and bred "illegitimate outcomes".
Elections to the senate are due on November 26.
Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader Morgan Tsvangirai said democracy in Zimbabwe was still a farce.
"To this date, nothing has changed. The electoral management in Zimbabwe is still a recipe for political disaster ... (which) breeds illegitimate outcomes and provides for predetermined results."
The ruling Zanu-PF won 78 seats in the March parliamentary vote - gaining a crucial two-thirds majority that allowed it to make constitutional changes on its own.
The first constitutional amendment by the Zanu-PF dominated parliament took place in August and paved way for the creation of the senate.
The 66-member upper house of parliament will comprise 10 traditional chiefs, 50 elected senators and six appointed by President Robert Mugabe and was created under a controversial constitutional amendment.
Tsvangirai said his party would "mount a national crusade against the senate elections".
"The senate idea is an expensive project we can ill-afford when millions face starvation, when millions live in a shrinking economy, in a hyper-inflationary environment" he added.
Earlier, MDC spokesperson Paul Themba Nyathi had said the proposed senate was the "last nail in the coffin for what remains of democracy".
The MDC, which currently holds 41 seats in the 150-strong parliament, has already dismissed the upper house as a distraction from Zimbabwe's mounting economic and political troubles.
The annual rate of inflation in the southern African country shot up 94 points last month to reach 360% while aid agencies estimate that about 4.3 million people require food assistance.
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Zimbabwe Special Report
