ZANU-PF in upset defeat

Zimbabwe's ruling party suffered a shock defeat in parliament on Tuesday when it introduced a controversial electoral amendment bill that critics allege is designed to boost President Robert Mugabe's re-election bid in March.

With a number of ZANU-PF deputies absent from parliament after a three-week break, the governing party lost the vote 22 to 36 but vowed to reintroduce the bill on Wednesday. ZANU-PF holds a 36-seat parliamentary majority.

However, Zimbabwe's main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), said that under parliamentary regulations a defeated bill can only be reintroduced in the next session of parliament later in the year. Any attempt to bring it back on Wednesday "is blatantly illegal", and "we would seek urgent judicial intervention", MDC spokesman Learnmore Jongwe told IRIN.

"The fact that a majority of ZANU-PF MPs stayed away from today's proceedings is a telling indication that some rational and objective voices in ZANU-PF agree with our position that this bill is a fascist piece of legislation that sought to attack and reverse that which the liberation movement sought to defend - namely the right to vote," he said.

The election regulations bill is part of a package of two other pieces of legislation that critics warn will undermine free and fair presidential elections in March. The electoral amendments do away with a civil society role in election monitoring and voter education, unless at the invitation of the government. "Unless the government finds us favourable, it won't engage us to work with them," a human rights activist, who asked not to be named, told IRIN on Tuesday.

Election monitoring will be conducted by civil servants, who will also run the polls. But with the alleged politicisation of the civil service after 22 years of ZANU-PF rule, the concern is that "they can't monitor themselves. We are calling for an independent electoral commission," the human rights worker said.

Voter education will be the sole preserve of the Electoral Supervisory Committee, a small four-member body that has no fulltime secretariat. It has so far only managed to place advertisements in national papers rather than the grassroots mobilisation that has been the traditional role of civil society groups, the activist said.

Other legislation due to be presented to parliament include a tough information bill that would allow only government-accredited journalists to work in the country, and a draconian public order bill that gives Mugabe sweeping powers.

The European Council is due to discuss the deteriorating political situation in Zimbabwe on Wednesday, a Council official told IRIN. The session comes ahead of a meeting on Friday between the Zimbabwe government and the European Union which will discuss the political crisis and growing violence.

Alarmed at the human rights conditions in the country and threats to the openness of the March election, Brussels has warned that sanctions are on the table.