Seventh Zimbabwean parliament

The Seventh Zimbabwean parliament refers to the Parliament of Zimbabwe from 2008 to 2013. The Members of Parliament were elected in the March 2008 parliamentary election.

On August 19, 2008, Robert Mugabe announced his intention to open Parliament in the subsequent week, five months after the parliamentary election was held. Due to the ongoing negotiations, the MDC-T deemed this move to convene Parliament unacceptable, with MDC-T Secretary-General Biti stating that it would "be a clear repudiation of the Memorandum of Understanding, and an indication beyond reasonable doubt of ZANU-PF's unwillingness to continue to be part of the talks. In short convening parliament decapitates the dialogue".

On the morning of August 25, Mugabe appointed 11 Senators. These appointments included eight of the ten Senate seats reserved for provincial Resident Ministers and Governors and three of the five special non-constituency Senate seats. Ephraim Masawi was appointed as Resident Minister and Governor for Mashonaland Central, Aeneas Chigwedere for Mashonaland East, Chris Mushohwe for Manicaland Province, and Faber Chidarikire for Mashonaland West. The remaining Resident Ministers and Governors—Angeline Masuku for Matabeleland South, Thokozile Mathuthu for Matabeleland North, Cain Mathema for Bulawayo, and David Karimanzira for Harare—were reappointed to their posts. (Mugabe did not appoint Resident Ministers and Governors for Midlands and Masvingo provinces at this time.) The three non-constituency senators appointed on this occasion were Vice-President Joseph Msika, Patrick Chinamasa, and John Nkomo, who was Speaker of Parliament during the preceding parliamentary term. Mugabe was believed to have left some of the posts vacant so that they could go to the MDC in the event of a power-sharing agreement.

Despite the MDC-T's objections, the members of Parliament were sworn in later on August 25. The MDC MPs sat on the government benches and told the ZANU-PF MPs to sit on the opposition benches.

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Wikipedia