Harare - Zimbabwe's new parliament was to be sworn in Monday in the first part of a plan by President Robert Mugabe to try to force opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai into a power-sharing deal on his terms.

The 210 members of the lower House of Assembly are to be sworn in by the clerk of parliament in a colourful ceremony in Harare. Members of the Senate or upper house, will also be sworn in.

Mugabe's move to convene parliament risks derailing talks between his Zanu-PF party and Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) on the formation of a government of national unity.

Those talks are currently deadlocked over how Mugabe and Tsvangirai would share power. The MDC warns the talks will be "decapitated" if Mugabe goes ahead with forming a government after the official opening of parliament Tuesday, which the party has vowed to boycott.

The convening comes despite Mugabe, Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara, leader of a breakaway MDC faction, agreeing at the outset of their negotiations in July not to convene parliament or form a government, "save by consensus."

Monday's proceedings will give a first indication of whether Mugabe has enough support to form a government.

After being sworn in, the MPs must choose a speaker of parliament. But neither Mugabe's Zanu-PF or Tsvangirai's MDC faction alone have the majority needed to push through their own choice.

Tsvangirai's MDC has 100 MPs, Zanu-PF has 99 and an independent one seat. The balance of power is held by Mutambara's faction which has 10 seats and is fielding its own candidate for speaker.

Business Day newspaper in South Africa quoted unnamed sources as saying that Zanu-PF was likely to support Mutambara's choice of speaker in return for a promise from him to work with Zanu-PF in parliament.

But it was not clear whether all of Mutambara's MPs, who, until 2006, called Tsvangirai their leader, would agree to a pact with Mugabe.

The power-sharing talks mediated by South African President Thabo Mbeki stalled earlier this month over what role Tsvangirai and Mugabe in the unity government, with each insisting on having the lion's share of power.

The MDC is calling for Tsvangirai to have complete control of government. Zanu-PF insists that Mugabe remain executive president.

Zimbabweans are counting on a negotiated settlement to end a nearly decade-long political and economic crisis as characterized by inflation of over 11 million per cent and widespread food shortages. (dpa)