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Despite Arrests, Zimbabwe Opposition Elects Speaker
Mugabe's candidate defeated as MDC's Moyo wins close parliamentary vote
By Ambreen Ali
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Posted Aug 25, 08 3:00 PM CDT
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(Newser)
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Opposition groups in Zimbabwe's parliament today defeated the candidate for speaker put forward by President Robert Mugabe, electing instead a member of the Movement for Democratic Change, the Times of London reports. Though security forces arrested several MDC members ahead of the vote, MDC lawmakers sang anti-Mugabe songs in a parliament speaker Lovemore Moyo said will "cease to be a rubber stamping house."
Zimbabwe has been in political limbo since elections in March, when Mugabe—who, at 84, still holds the bulk of the power—began discussing power-sharing options with the winning MDC and its leader, Morgan Tsvangirai. “Mugabe has forged ahead with convening parliament and this is very unfortunate because, as a party, we had hoped something might come out of the interparty talks,” an MDC spokesman told the New York Times.