Zimbabwe police arrested an opposition MDC lawmaker in parliament and more arrests of MPs are feared, a party spokesman said.

"They have arrested one of our MPs, here in the chamber. We hear that they are also looking for a total of 15 of our members of parliament as part of an evil ploy to rig the elections (for parliamentary speaker," MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa said.

Zimbabwe's parliament is due to elect a speaker later today but Chamisa said the MDC will not allow the vote to go ahead over the arrest of the opposition MP.

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