MDC Parties Mull Coalition

However the plan which has been tried in the past but broken by evident differences is suffering a still birth because none of the two parties is ready to bury past differences and set the plan in motion.

In interviews conducted by Radio VOP at the weekend with officials from the two political parties, it was apparent that there parties are interested in the arrangement but need to overcome ingrained differences from past interactions.

The MDC party spilt in 2005 in an episode that led to disastrous consequences for everyone involved as the mainstream MDC party went on to win elections by a slight margin in march 2008, a result which was however not enough to enable it to automatically assume the seat of power. On the other hand the smaller MDC party garnered a few votes but backed Simba Makoni in the presidential election whose losing margin ensured that MDC failed to take over power.

However combined, the parties garnered the majority of the popular vote.

“As an institution we are prepared to work with any other institution that shares the same values and interests with us and the same strategic goals,” said MDC Secretary General Tendai Biti adding that differences of the past would however have to be ironed out first before his party can agree to a pact with the smaller MDC party.

on his part, the leader of the smaller MDC party, Welshman Ncube said while his party was open to the idea, it will approach it cautiously.

“We went out of our way to try and build a coalition and that’s why we negotiated and agreed on a coalition which would have seen all of us supporting Tsvangirai as our presidential candidate in 2008 but MDC T rejected and we were left on a lurch,” said Ncube.

Ncube said his party is committed to the idea but will wait to be approached while building its structures because when it suggested the idea in 2008 it was rebuffed by Tsvangirai’s MDC, a rejection which left it on a lurch and ensured that it had no presidential candidate in the election.

There is a possibility that the country might have elections next year after the completion of a constitutional exercise and implementation of necessary reforms agreed as part of roadmap talks by the country’s three political parties.