Movement for Democratic Change

The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) is a Zimbabwean political party now split.The mainstream faction
is led by Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara leads the other. It was founded in 1999 as an opposition party to the Zimbabwe African National Union - Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) party led by President Robert Mugabe. The MDC was formed from many members of the broad coalition of civic society groups and individuals that campaigned for a "No" vote in the 2000 Constitutional referendum, in particular the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions.

History

In February 2000 ZANU-PF organized a constitutional referendum. The proposed change would have limited future presidents to two terms, but as it was not retroactive, Mugabe could have stood for another two terms. It would also have made his government and military officials immune from prosecution for any illegal acts committed while in office. Also, it legalized the confiscation of white-owned land for redistribution to black farmers without compensation. It was defeated, after a low 20% turnout, by a strong urban vote, fuelled by an effective SMS campaign. Mugabe declared that he would "abide by the will of the people". The vote was a surprise to Zanu-PF, and an embarrassment before parliamentary elections due in mid-April. This success fueled a meteoric rise in visibility to the very recently formed MDC.

In the 2000 parliamentary elections, the MDC won 57 of the 120 seats up for election. This marked the first time that an opposition party has achieved more than a handful of seats since the merger of ZANU and ZAPU in 1988. The MDC dominated in most urban centres and Matebeleland. MDC won all seats in the two biggest cities, Harare and Bulawayo and only lost two in Matabeleland.

This election was viewed by international observers from the Commonwealth, Norwegian, and theSouth African Parliamentary Delegation as not being free and fair. The MDC claimed the elections were rigged citing state sponsored violence and some voter results figures that were unaccounted for. They took the matter to court. Some missions from Mugabe's allies such as the SADC observers and the South African Ministerial Observer team held that the election was substantially free and fair. The election is currently being challenged in the Zimbabwean Supreme court, 18 months after the election.

Split

The MDC announced during mid-2004 that it would not participate in any further elections in Zimbabwe, including the 2005 Zimbabwe parliamentary elections until it believed a free and fair vote could take place. However on February 3, 2005, spokesperson Paul Themba Nyathi told a news conference "It is with a heavy heart that the MDC has decided to participate in the elections ... This is a decision based primarily on the demands of our people". A meeting of the party's decision making national council was called in October 2005 to decide on whether the party should participate in senatorial elections which were imminent. The national council resolved by a vote of 33 to 31 that the party should participate. Morgan Tsvangirai overturned the vote saying it was a stalemate and "I'm the leader of the party. I'm giving direction when you have a stalemate".

This led to the MDC splitting into two groups one led by Morgan Tsvangirai and another by his deputy Gibson Sibanda with the support of Welshman Ncube, Gift Chimanikire and spokesperson Paul Themba Nyathi (MDC Pro-Senate faction). The pro-senate group had one more member in the house of assembly at the time of the split,however senior members of the Pro Senate faction have since defected to the mainstream MDC led by Morgan Tsvangirai including its Chairman Gift Chimanikire, its Director for Elections, Blessing Chebundo and Member of Parliament for Kwekwe, the Environmental Secretary and Binga Member of Parliament Joel Gabuza, and Senate Candidate for Tsholotsho Sam Sipepa Nkomo .

A by-election for Budiriro constituency was held and was won by Emmanuel Chisvuure of the faction led by Morgan Tsvangirai he polled 7949 votes,and Gabriel Chaibva of the Mutambara faction polled 504 votes the combined votes was less than half of what they had got in previous elections.
It is widely believed that the split was a reflection of problems that had been in the party for a while. The Central intelligence Organisation has taken advantange of the divisions between the faction to attack member of the other faction .Cracks had also emerged along ethnic lines and between trade unionists and academics.

The two camps have been making attempt at uniting in order to fight elections as a united front but as of July 2007, no deal has been reached.

Notable party members

Mainstream

• Tendai Biti, Secretary-General
• Thokozani Khuphe, Vice President and Member of Parliament for Makokoba
• Lovemore Moyo, Vice Chairman and Member of Parliament for Matobo
• Nelson Chamisa, MDC spokesman ; Member of Parliament for Kuwadzana
• Elias Mudzuri, Organising secretary and former Executive Mayor of Harare
• Isaac Matongo, Chairman (until death in May 2007)
• Gift Tandare, MDC member (shot dead by police in a March 2007 protest)

Pro-senate faction

• Welshman Ncube, Secretary-General (pro-senate), MP for Bulawayo North-East
• Gibson Sibanda, Vice President (pro-senate) and MP for Nkulumane
• Gabriel Chaibva, spokesperson for the pro-senate faction

See also

• History of Zimbabwe
• Liberalism worldwide
• Liberal democracy
• Liberal International
• Politics of Zimbabwe

External links

• Movement for Democratic Change official site