Movement for Democratic Change - Tsvangirai

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The Movement for Democratic Change - Tsvangirai (MDC-T, German  "Movement for Democratic Change - Tsvangirai" or "Movement for Democratic Change - Tsvangirai") is a party in Zimbabwe . Led by Morgan Tsvangirai until his death in February 2018 , it is the country's largest opposition party. Since Tsvangirai's death, the party has operated as the MDC Alliance.

history

The Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party was founded in 1999 and has its roots in the country's trade union movement . However, numerous other civil society groups , such as the Combined Harare Residents Association , are also members and supporters of the party.

The MDC is supported by the majority of white landowners in Zimbabwe, against whom Mugabe's ruling party ZANU- PF had launched an intimidation campaign in connection with an intended major land reform . Both these farmers and the MDC were persecuted by the ZANU-PF youth groups.

In the general election in 2000, the MDC won 57 of the 120 seats. For the first time in a long time, an opposition party in Zimbabwe had succeeded in gaining more than a handful of seats.

The MDC first received more attention worldwide when its chairman Morgan Tsvangirai ran and lost in the 2002 presidential election against long-time incumbent and former freedom fighter Robert Mugabe . Mugabe was accused of manipulating the elections to increase his chances of re-election. Morgan Tsvangirai was also charged with treason . He was charged with planning an assassination attempt on Mugabe.

In 2005 there was a split. The parties were named after Morgan Tsvangirai and Welshman Ncube , Movement for Democratic Change - Tsvangirai and Movement for Democratic Change - Ncube (MDC-N).

A police operation in late May 2007 arrested 200 opposition members, many of whom wanted to attend a meeting on AIDS and elections in Zimbabwe.

In the course of the parliamentary elections in March 2008, the MDC-T won a total of 100 of the 210 seats. The ZANU-PF only had 98 seats. In August 2008, the MDC-T candidate Lovemore Moyo was also elected speaker of parliament with 110 to 98 votes. From 2009 the MDC-T ruled jointly with the ZANU-PF. The MDC-T provided Morgan Tsvangirai as prime minister, while Robert Mugabe continued to be President of Zimbabwe. A joint draft constitution was drawn up, which was voted on by the population on March 16, 2013. In the 2013 elections, Mugabe again won a majority, after which the office of prime minister was abolished. The MDC-T did not recognize the result and demanded - in vain - new elections within 60 days. In 2017, Mugabe resigned as president after impeachment proceedings against him.

Tsvangirai died on February 14, 2018. The following day, Nelson Chamisa was appointed as the new party leader and opposition leader. In July 2018, he announced that he would no longer want to use the additional designation -T in the party name. Instead, his party entered the 2018 elections in Zimbabwe as the MDC Alliance . Nevertheless, there was also a party in the 2018 election that was able to win a seat under the name MDC-T. Furthermore, the MDC-N ran for election, but could not win a seat.

In 2019, Chamisa was re-elected as chairman of the MDC Alliance.

Others

In 2019 the Movement for Democratic Change Zimbabwe (MDC Zimbabwe) party was founded. The chairman is Thulani Ndebele. Opposition politicians criticized the further fragmentation of the opposition and possible confusion among voters.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Police arrest 200 opposition members (tagesschau.de archive)
  2. ↑ Mugabe loses some power. In: The daily newspaper.
  3. ↑ Tagesschau ( Memento from March 18, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
  4. ↑ wsj.de
  5. ↑ Nelson Chamisa appointed to lead MDC. ewn.co.za on February 15, 2018, accessed February 15, 2018.
  6. ↑ Chamisa says MDC-T stands for MDC-Tsotsi. bulawayo24.com of July 14, 2018 (English), accessed on July 14, 2018.
  7. ^ Zimbabwe's main opposition-elects Chamisa as leader. africanews.com, May 27, 2019, accessed May 27, 2019.
  8. ↑ Newly-formed MDC Zimbabwe promises to unseat Zanu PF in next elections. voazimbabwe.com of December 22, 2019 (English), accessed December 23, 2019

Coordinates: 17 ° 49 '44.72 "  S , 31 ° 2' 53.79"  E