MDC Leader Tsvangirai to Step Down

Zimbabwe Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai is relinquishing his position as president of the larger faction of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) next year in line with the party's original constitution that allows an incumbent to hold office for a maximum of two five-year terms.

According to the The Financial Gazette, MDC-T has since passed a resolution to the effect that the movement's third congress - where a new leader would be elected - would only be held after the holding of presidential elections, which both the premier and President Robert Mugabe said would be held next year.

What it means is that the MDC-T leader could be forced to relinquish his party post but still continue to lead government should he win the presidential ballot.

The Prime Minister is said to have confided in some members of his so-called "kitchen cabinet" that even if he loses the next election in which the MDC-T leader is likely to face President Mugabe, who has all but secured his party's endorsement to carry the ZANU-PF flag in the presidential poll, he would still step down.

In what clearly confirms the two bitter rivals' availability at the next polls, Tsvangirai, aged 58, recently told party faithful that a pact had been reached with the ZANU-PF leader not to challenge the other's victory in the upcoming election.

Tsvangirai's exit from active politics is likely to spark intense jockeying among senior MDC-T officials eyeing the position, the report added.