MDC national council to give final decision on senate poll

By Tichaona Sibanda
19 September 2005

The MDC will convene a national council meeting soon to deliberate and give its final decision on whether to contest the senate poll, set for the end of the year.

Party spokesman Paul Themba-Nyathi said the decision by the party’s national executive committee to refer the matter to the national council should not be construed as indecision by the leadership.

The party’s national executive met Friday last week to discuss the matter, but failed to come up with a consensus. It was decided at the meeting that the matter be referred to the national council.

The party spokesman said; ‘We debated the issue at length, and as a democratic party we received different opinions at the table for debate and we did not conclude the deliberations’.

He added that since the national council was not a policy making body, it was within the party’s organisational structure that the matter was referred to the top body for finalisation.

Themba-Nyathi denied the senate issue was causing divisions within the MDC, blaming the party’s detractors for waging a relentless campaign to misinform the public.

Party leader Morgan Tsvangirai has openly urged his party to boycott the senate poll saying contesting against Zanu (PF) would be tantamount to endorsing Robert Mugabe’s unilateral and controversial reforms.