The New Nation - Internet Edition

AFP, Harare

A second Zimbabwean lawmaker was arrested Monday in what the opposition said was a bid to reverse the party's unprecedented majority ahead of a parliamentary vote to elect a new speaker.

"Another one of our members of parliament Eliah Jembere has been arrested at parliament," Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) spokesman Nelson Chamisa told AFP.

"It's clearly a strategy to eliminate our members and reverse our majority in parliament," said the spokesman for Morgan Tsvangirai's opposition party. Earlier Chamisa said another lawmaker, Shuah Mudiwa, was arrested from parliament, saying he was "literally pulled" out from the building.

"We have been informed they want to arrest 15 MPs. It's all about the vote for the speaker. Nothing to do with the law," he said.

Parliamentary and presidential elections were held in March, setting off months of political unrest after Tsvangirai claimed that veteran leader Robert Mugabe had fixed the presidential result and intimidated his supporters.

Mugabe's ruling ZANU-PF party suffered a historic reverse when it won only 97 parliamentary seats. The MDC took 100, while a splinter party formed and led by former MDC politician Arthur Mutambara got 10.