HARARE, Zimbabwe — Reunification talks between leaders of Zimbabwe’s fractured opposition collapsed Sunday, giving the ruling party of President Robert Mugabe a powerful boost heading into elections next month.
The two opposition factions, which both claim the name Movement for Democratic Change, announced plans to run separate candidates for the country’s major offices, splitting the anti-government vote and weakening their chances of ending Mugabe’s 28-year rule of a country in steep economic decline.
The development undid months of intense negotiations aimed at healing a rift that opened in 2005, shortly after the last national vote, over the leadership style of Morgan Tsvangirai, Zimbabwe’s most prominent opposition leader.
Both sides had agreed to run on a single ticket headed by Tsvangirai. But in meetings over the past two days, the factions could not agree on how to select candidates for parliamentary seats.
