Zimbabwe substantiate their claims. On 29 March 2008, Zimbabwe held a presidential election along with a parliamentary election. The results of this election were withheld for two weeks, after which it was generally acknowledged that the Movement for Democratic Change – Tsvangirai (MDC-T) had achieved a majority of one seat in the lower house of parliament. In late 2008, problems in Zimbabwe reached crisis proportions in the areas of living standards, public health (with a major cholera outbreak in December) and various basic affairs. In September 2008, a power-sharing agreement was reached between Tsvangirai and President Mugabe, permitting the former to
Robert Mugabe He reluctantly took part in the peace negotiations brokered by the United Kingdom that resulted in the Lancaster House Agreement. The agreement dismantled the short-lived Zimbabwe Rhodesia and resulted in the 1980 general election, at which Mugabe led ZANU-PF to victory. Mugabe's administration expanded healthcare and education and—despite his Marxist rhetoric and professed desire for a socialist society—adhered largely to mainstream, conservative economic policies. His calls for racial reconciliation failed to stem growing white flight. Relations with Joshua Nkomo's Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU) declined, with Mugabe's government crushing ZAPU-linked opposition in Matabeleland during the Gukurahundi between 1982 and 1985;