By MacDonald Dzirutwe HARARE, Sept 20 (Reuters) - President Robert Mugabe won a parliamentary vote strengthening his iron hold on the country on Thursday as a row brewed in Europe on how to deal with Zimbabwe. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown vowed to snub an EU-African summit in Lisbon in December if Mugabe was invited, accusing him of "abuse of his own people". He also urged the EU to tighten sanctions against Zimbabwe's ruling elite. Brown's threatened boycott was played down by EU president Portugal and a source close to the presidency said Europe's ties with Africa could not be held hostage to the Zimbabwe issue. In Harare, the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) voted for a bill in parliament that effectively ensures Mugabe will be able to choose his successor if he stands down. The bill was supported by all 111 members present under a compromise between ruling ZANU-PF and the MDC which watered down Mugabe's powers to appoint legislators. But after a general strike call to protest against Mugabe's economic policies collapsed on Wednesday, the parliamentary vote was another sign of the 83-year-old leader's dominance and opposition disarray. The Lisbon summit will be the first between the EU and Africa in seven years. Summit plans stumbled in the past because former colonial power Britain and other EU states refused to invite Mugabe, ensuring the Africans stayed away. Portugal, which wants the meeting to forge deeper ties between the EU and Africa, suggested the event -- a high spot in its six-month presidency -- could go ahead without Brown. "It will be very hard not to invite Mugabe. Some African leaders in the African Union (AU) might not be willing to come if he is not invited," the Portuguese source said. "He is the oldest leader in the AU and is seen by many as a freedom fighter," he said, noting Mugabe had spent 10 years in jail for opposing white minority rule. AFRICAN BOYCOTT THREATENED Zambia's President Levy Mwanawasa -- head of a 14-nation southern African group seeking to end Zimbabwe's political and economic crisis -- said he would boycott the summit if Mugabe was not invited and other African leaders could join him. Critics say Mugabe has presided over the collapse of Zimbabwe's economy, now marked by the world's highest inflation rate of about 6,600 percent and unemployment around 80 percent. Mugabe, in power since independence from Britain in 1980, has ignored calls for democratic reforms and denies accusations of widespread human rights abuses. The constitutional bill passed in Harare on Thursday will enable parliament, dominated by ZANU-PF, to choose a successor if an incumbent president fails to finish a term. Mugabe faces few political challenges from a weak and divided opposition so his party should maintain dominance after joint parliamentary and presidential elections in 2008. Mugabe has vowed to crush opponents in the polls but analysts say he may use the bill to craft a smooth exit and anoint a loyalist to succeed him while ruling from the sidelines. Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa said the parliamentary compromise was a result of talks between the MDC and ZANU-PF, brokered by a regional initiative led by South African President Thabo Mbeki. The mediation efforts were launched after a violent police crackdown on Zimbabwe's opposition in March. Zimbabwe is grappling with a deep economic recession that critics blame on Mugabe's policies, primarily his government's seizure of white-owned commercial farms to redistribute to landless blacks. Mugabe denies he has wrecked the economy and accuses the West of sabotaging it to punish him for land seizures he says were meant to redress colonial wrongs.
