Parliament endorsed President Robert Mugabe's decision to pull Zimbabwe out of the Commonwealth of Britain and its former territories after a raucous debate on Wednesday, lawmakers said.
Foreign Minister Stan Mudenge said the country would not be "a lackey" of its former colonial ruler and other white Commonwealth members after the bloc extended Zimbabwe's 18-month suspension at a weekend summit in Nigeria.
"Let us now cut the poisonous umbilical cord," he said.
Opposition lawmakers argued the withdrawal was a ploy to ease international pressure on Mugabe to make human rights and democratic reforms.
With the ruling party controlling all but 54 seats in the 150-member parliament, the motion's approval was expected. The 59-41 vote was one of the closest in recent sessions, lawmakers said.
Zimbabwe has been barred from decision-making councils since disputed elections last year, in which Mugabe is accused of using intimidation and vote-rigging to extend his more than two-decade rule.
Mugabe announced that Zimbabwe was withdrawing just hours after the 54-nation Commonwealth agreed on Sunday to continue the country's suspension indefinitely.
His decision was endorsed by Cabinet at its weekly meeting on Tuesday and only needed parliamentary approval to come into effect.
Zimbabwe's neighbors, including South Africa and Zambia, led a push at the summit to have the country reinstated.
Mudenge said they were overruled because of Britain's opposition to Zimbabwe's seizure of thousands of white-owned farms for redistribution to blacks.
"What has brought us to the current state of affairs is a bilateral quarrel between Zimbabwe and our former colonial master over the issue of land reform," Mudenge said.
The often-violent redistribution program, coupled with erratic rains, have crippled the agriculture-based economy.
The country now faces rampant inflation and acute shortages of food, gasoline and other essentials.
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