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Top MDC man slams Tsvangirai
23/10/2005 10:05 - (SA)
Harare - A senior official in Zimbabwe's main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) says the party will participate in next month's controversial senate elections and anyone who thinks otherwise should "just shut up", the state-controlled Sunday Mail reported.
In what appeared to be a clear attack on party leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who Saturday claimed the MDC would boycott the November 26 poll, deputy secretary general Gift Chimanikire said lists of party candidates for the senate were being compiled.
"We are going ahead with the national executive council's resolution (to participate in the polls) and those who don't want to participate should stay out of it and just shut up," Chimanikire told the paper.
"Why do they have to campaign for non-participation? Is it that they are looking defeat in the face?" he asked.
Wrangling within the six-year old MDC over participation in the elections is turning increasingly ugly.
Tsvangirai is adamant the party should stay out of the polls because Zimbabwe's current electoral system "breeds illegitimate outcomes".
But senior MDC officials back participation because they do not want to cede President Robert Mugabe's ruling party too much ground.
State-run newspapers have been following with keen interest the recent infighting within the MDC. Many analysts predict the party will tear itself apart. Mugabe has said the chaos proves it is an "irrelevant" party.
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Zimbabwe Special Report
