Economic recovery first elections next year –poll

Readers of The Insider say Zimbabwe should attain economic recovery first and if any elections are to be held they should be held next year.

A poll by The Insider indicated that 35 percent of those that voted preferred that the country should concentrate on economic recovery first.

Thirty-three percent said the country must have its elections next year while 24 percent wanted them this year.

Only eight percent wanted them in 2013 when the term of the current parliament ends.

The Zimbabwe African National Union- Patriotic Front is pressing for elections this year but the Movement for Democratic Change says elections should only be held when the climate is right and terms of the Global Political Agreement that the parties agreed to are fully implemented.

The Southern African Development Community which has been tasked with ensuring free, fair and credible elections in Zimbabwe has called for an end to violence and insists that terms of the GPA should be fully implemented before elections are held.

Several academics have argued that democracy is not a prerequisite for economic growth, but economic growth strengthens democracy.

“What is clear is that democracy is not the prerequisite for economic growth that aid proponents maintain. On the contrary, it is economic growth that is a prerequisite for democracy,” argues economist Dambisa Moyo, a Zambian by birth who has worked for organisations like the World Bank.

Adam Przeworski and three colleagues argue that poor democracies are extremely fragile while democracies with higher incomes tend to live forever.

“Poor democracies, particularly those with an annual per capita income of less than $1 000, are extremely fragile,” they argue. “A democracy can be expected to last an average of about 8.5 years in a country with per capita income under $1 000 per annum, 16 years in one with income between $1 000 and $2 000 a year, 33 years between $2 000 and $4 000 a year, and 100 years between $4 000 and $6 000.”

“Above $6 000, democracies are impregnable and can be expected to live forever,” they argue. “But democracy can survive in poorer countries if they generate economic growth with a moderate rate of inflation.”

They argue that democracies are more likely to survive when they grow faster than 5 percent a year.

Zimbabwe has been growing by more than five percent since the formation of the inclusive government and is expected to grow by 9 percent this year.

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