Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe probably will introduce a constitutional amendment today to allow appointment of a prime minister and two deputies, the state-controlled Herald said.

The law will then be debated in Zimbabwe’s parliament and possibly passed into law in February, Patrick Chinamasa, Mugabe’s justice minister, told the Harare-based newspaper. New elections will have to be held in the southern African nation if parliament rejects the amendments, the Herald added.

The Movement for Democratic Change, led by Morgan Tsvangirai, holds a narrow majority over Mugabe’s Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front party, though the constitutional amendment requires a two-thirds majority.

Neither MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa nor Patrick Chinamasa could be immediately reached by Bloomberg News. Under a Sept. 15 agreement between the two parties, Tsvangirai will become prime minister, while Mugabe will remain head of state as president.

(Source)