Zimbabwe has 'hung parliament and a hung presidency'

Zimbabwe has 'hung parliament and a hung presidency'

• MDC reluctant to take part in run-off

• MDC lawyers barred from High Court by police

• Zanu PF claims MDC bribed ZEC officials

• MDC seeks court help to force results

• SENATE ELECTION RESULTS

• Zimbabwe could be on verge of 'failed transition'

• Mugabe faces humiliation if he enters run-off - Moyo

• Mugabe said ready for election run-off

• 'Relaxed' Mugabe seen for first time after polls

• 7 ministers fall as opposition overturns Zanu PF's majority in parliament

• MDC declares Tsvangirai new President

• Outright Tsvangirai or Mugabe victory unlikely - Moyo

• Tsvangirai refuses to declare victory

• Tsvangirai MDC may turn to rival faction to break deadlock

• ZEC invites candidates for presidential ballot count

• Zanu PF ahead, rigging fears grow

• US concerns over election results delay

• VP Mujuru not defeated, results show

• HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY ELECTION RESULTS

By Lebo Nkatazo

ZIMBABWE’S ruling Zanu PF party has lost control of parliament, but the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) doesn’t control it either, political scientist and independent Tsholotsho North MP Jonathan Moyo said this week.

Moyo said Zimbabwe was in a unique political situation “with a hung parliament and a hung presidency”, and any party that assumes power must cut deals with the smaller MDC faction led by Arthur Mutambara.

Moyo said for a political party to appoint a Speaker and pass laws through Zimbabwe’s parliament, at least 106 MPs were needed in the 210-member chamber -- and the MDC’s current 99 falls short of that. Zanu PF has 97 seats, the Mutambara faction of the MDC 10 and Moyo won as an independent.

“There is no party that has won control parliament, it’s a hung result,” the former Information Minister said in an interview this week. “To suggest one party has seized control of parliament is mischievous, and certainly false.”

With a key vote to come about who becomes Speaker of Parliament, Moyo said Zanu PF and the Tsvangirai MDC would have to cut deals with Mutambara’s MDC, and the first concession they would be forced to make is to let them nominate a Speaker – who doesn’t have to be an MP but can be a former legislator.

“What this means,” Moyo said, “is that Mutambara’s party which has 10 seats becomes crucial. If he joins with either party, they get the majority and carry the day. The question is: who will they join?”

He added: “This is a unique election in the sense that the parliamentary result is inconclusive, and presidential election has been inconclusive – a case of a hung presidency and a hung parliament.

“The losers who are the Mutambara group have become very crucial in parliament. In short, the losers will control which winner controls parliament.

“As things stand, even if Zanu PF or the Tsvangirai MDC win the three by-elections outstanding, they need the other guys in order to have the necessary majority. This means a Mutambara nominee will have to be Speaker in order to strike a deal.

“So the Mutambara group is not finished yet. They can in fact be resurrected. If one of them becomes Speaker, that will give them a new life.

“They should refuse to cooperate with any of the parties unless they are offering something useful, in fact they would be advised to refuse anything unless they are getting the Speakership.”

Moyo, a former university lecturer and respected author who has just become the first independent to retain a parliamentary seat, said the assumption – carried mainly in foreign media -- that the Mutambara MPs will automatically swing behind Tsvangirai’s MDC was problematic.

He said: “There is so much bitterness that the distance to travel between the Mutambara faction and Tsvangirai faction is much longer than the distance between Zanu PF and the Mutambara faction. You just have to look at the unity talks which collapsed just before the elections and the massacre in Bulawayo (MDC-Mutambara electoral defeat), do you think they are smiling because of that?”

Moyo said it was more urgent that ever for Tsvangirai to forge alliances with his erstwhile colleagues in the Mutambara faction before an expected second round of voting in presidential elections. Although results are yet to be announced, independent monitoring groups and Zanu PF say both President Robert Mugabe and Tsvangirai failed to get the 50 percent majority needed to win.

Moyo said: “Whoever takes control of parliament ahead of the run-off will have a foot forward, but nothing is given. If people make the mistake of taking things for granted, they will live to regret on Election Day, or rather on results day because they will discover that they were so close and yet very, very far away.

“In politics, the day after your victory you need to be serious. The basic rule in politics is that a winner must work with everyone, especially the losers. The mentality of a winner takes all has been the graveyard of many politicians.

“The most successful politicians are those who have been able to work with their opponents.”

Professor Welshman Ncube, secretary general of the Mutambara faction, said they had not been approached by any of the two parties about forging an alliance in parliament and outside.

He said: “The two big parties in parliament are yet to approach us. It is self evident that none of them has a majority in parliament, and none can win on any issue without us.

“There are things that are close to our hearts, in particular the issue of development in Matabeleland, equality of all individuals and all provinces and so on. We will listen most carefully to anyone who has a plan about how to address our concerns.”
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