FACTBOX: Facts about Zimbabwe's Tsvangirai

Wed Jun 4, 2008 12:16pm EDT
 
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(Reuters) - Zimbabwe's opposition Movement for Democratic Change said its leader Morgan Tsvangirai was detained at a police roadblock on Wednesday in an attempt to derail his presidential election campaign.

Below are some facts about Tsvangirai:

* Tsvangirai is a former union leader who has been a thorn in Mugabe's side for a decade as the head of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), the main opposition group.

* The son of a bricklayer, Tsvangirai was born in 1952 in central Zimbabwe.

* He worked in a mine to feed his family and cut his political teeth in the labor movement as a mine foreman.

* Tsvangirai helped found the MDC in 1999. Despite intimidation, it stunned the ruling party by winning 57 of 120 seats in a 2000 parliamentary vote.

* Tsvangirai was acquitted of plotting to assassinate Mugabe and seize power before a 2002 presidential election.

* Mugabe's party won a crushing majority in a 2005 parliamentary election, which the MDC said was rigged.

* The MDC split in 2005 in a feud over how to tackle Mugabe. A splinter group accused Tsvangirai of behaving in a dictatorial fashion.

* Tsvangirai was arrested at an anti-Mugabe rally in 2007. He said he had been attacked at a police station. Critics said the incident helped revive his sagging political fortunes.

* The second round follows the disputed 2008 presidential election in which official results showed Tsvangirai beat Mugabe, but not by enough votes to avoid a run-off.

 

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