Zimbabwe Opposition Calls for Fresh Polls to End Deadlock

Zimbabwe’s opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has called for fresh elections to end the country’s deadlocked power sharing negotiations, accusing President Robert Mugabe and his ruling Zanu-PF of intransigence. Party spokesman Nelson Chamisa told an international media agency Tuesday that a new poll was the only way to resolve a five-week-old impasse over the sharing cabinet portfolios, which has become intractable after Mugabe unilaterally annexed all powerful ministries for his party in partial disregard of a September 15 power sharing accord. Botswana is said to back the MDC’s position, with its President Ian Khama reportedly lobbying the support of South African President Kgalema Motlanthe (chairman of the regional grouping SADC), Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete (African Union chairman) and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on the need for a new presidential election and international intervention in Zimbabwe.[PE]