Zimbabwe opposition leader gains support for poll boycott

Harare (dpa) -- Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has managed to convince the majority in his party to boycott next month's controversial senate elections, state radio reported late Thursday.

Tsvangirai's spokesman William Bango was reported as saying that "opposition party leaders in 10 provinces have already agreed with Mr. Tsvangirai's decision to boycott the election'' due on November 26.

Zimbabwe has 12 provinces. The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader has been battling to keep opposition supporters behind him after a major fallout over the senate election issue.

Last week Tsvangirai ordered a boycott of the polls, but members in only four provinces supported him then.

Bango said Tsvangirai had now embarked on a "campaign trail'' around the country to inform supporters of the boycott.

Earlier Thursday the party's vice president Gibson Sibanda accused Tsvangirai of threatening senior party officials who were in favour of participating in the senate elections. He also accused the opposition leader of breaching the party's constitution by overruling last week's decision by the MDC national council to contest the poll.

Tsvangirai says he does not want the MDC to take part in the senate elections because the electoral system is skewed in favour of President Robert Mugabe's ruling Zimbabwe African National Union -Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) and "breeds illegitimate outcomes''.

But some senior party officials say they do not want to concede more ground to the ruling party. In general elections in March the party won just 41 out of 120 contested seats. dpa rt pr