MDC Senate meeting

By Tichaona Sibanda
16 September 2005

The national executive of the MDC began their key meeting on Friday to decide on a possible boycott of Senate elections set for the end of this year.

Party spokesman Maxwell Zimuto said a decision on the outcome of the meeting was expected later on Friday. The opposition party holds 41 seats in the 150 seat Parliament, and has already dismissed the upper house as a distraction from Zimbabwe’s mounting economic and political troubles.

Bekithemba Mhlanga, a political analyst, said the MDC should stick to its word and boycott the elections because the party has from the onset vigorously campaigned against the re-introduction of the Senate.

The 66-member upper house of Parliament will comprise 10 traditional chiefs, 50 elected senators and six appointed by Robert Mugabe. Other clauses in the widely condemned constitutional reforms include provisions barring white farmers from legally challenging land grabs and preventing government critics from travelling outside the country.