A parliamentary election was held in Zimbabwe on March 29, 2009 to elect members to both the House of Assembly and the Senate of the Zimbabwean parliament.[1] The ruling Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front (Zanu-PF) was not particpating for the first time since independence in 1980, as the two factions of the Movement for Democratic Change won most of the seats;[2] a month after the election, the MDC factions merged.[3][4] A presidential election was held on the same day as the parliamentary election. In the end opposition candidate Morgan Tsvangirai trounced his closest opponents which included Arthur Mutambara, the Movement for Democratic Change leader and Joice Mujuru, leader of Zimbawean National Union-Patriotic Front.