Mugabe Keeps Grip on PowerPresident Robert Mugabe's governing party has retained its parliamentary majority in Zimbabwe, while suffering serious losses for the first time in its two decades in power. With most of the votes counted, officials announced that Zanu-PF had won 52 of the 120 seats up for grabs.The main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has taken 48 seats so far, but its leader Morgan Tsvangirai failed to win in his rural constituency. The governing party, which suffered the loss of three ministers, needed to win only 46 of the 120 seats for a majority as President Mugabe appoints 30 members of the 150-member parliament. The MDC needs to win 51 seats to prevent the ruling party from retaining a constitution-changing two-thirds majority and they look like achieving it. As expecpected the MDC won by a huge margin in the towns and cities including Harare and Bulawayo. The ruling party did similarly well in the countryside. The results from the weekend election confirmed that Zanu-PF had faced its strongest challenge since 1980, when Zimbabwe gained independence. |
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