voa标准英语2008-Zimbabwe Opposition Says Constitutional Amendmen
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In Zimbabwe, a proposed constitutional amendment2 to create a unity3 government has been published, paving the way for parliament to take up the matter. But, the opposition4 Movement for Democratic Change says negotiations5 over power-sharing must be concluded first. |
| Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe delivers his speech at the National Heroes Acre in Harare, 11 Dec 2008 |
President Robert Mugabe's government says, if the opposition does not endorse6 the amendment in parliament, he will call new elections. The two factions8 of the Movement for Democratic Change, or MDC, have a majority of the 210 seats in Parliament, and a two-thirds majority is needed to amend1 the constitution.
Nelson Chamisa, spokesman for the MDC, said Sunday 10 of the 31 ministries9 still need to be negotiated before addressing the constitutional amendment.
On Saturday, South African President Kgalema Mothlanthe said the publishing of the amendment will pave the way for the formation of an inclusive government. Mr. Mothlanthe is also chairman of the regional Southern African Development Community, or SADC, which at a summit last month said it had resolved the remaining differences toward forming a unity government in Zimbabwe.
The African Union last week encouraged all three parties, Mr. Tsvangirai's MDC, the ruling ZANU-PF party and a small faction7 of the MDC, whose leaders signed a global political agreement in September, to go into government as soon as possible.
Veteran Zimbabwe political analyst10 Brian Raftopoulos said Sunday, the MDC was holding out to see if it could get more power over the security portfolios11.
He warned that if the MDC did not go into an inclusive government, the party should expect that its structures would be further depleted12 by repression13 and that the economic decline would intensify14.
Zimbabwe's spiraling economic decline has been compounded by a cholera15 epidemic16 that has killed nearly 800 people and infected nearly 17,000 others.
