7th Parliament of Zimbabwe Mugabe announced his intention to open Parliament in the subsequent week, five months after the parliamentary election was held. Due to ongoing negotiations over the disputed election, the opposition Movement for Democratic Change – Tsvangirai party saw this as unacceptable, with MDC–T Secretary-General Tendai 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." Nevertheless, Parliament was convened on 25 August 2008. That morning, Mugabe appointed 11 senators, including eight of the
Umbrella for Democratic Change Umbrella for Democratic Change The Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) is a political alliance in Botswana. The UDC was founded in November 2012 by members from various opposition parties, including the BDP and BMD. They rallied together in the run-up to the 2014 elections by the Botswana National Front (BNF), the Botswana Movement for Democracy and the Botswana People's Party with the aim of uniting the opposition in the 2014 elections. In February 2017 the Botswana Congress Party, which contested the 2014 elections independently, joined the coalition. The coalition is currently led by Duma Boko from the BNF and plans