Elections and nation’s stability – The Herald

Name: Elections and nation’s stability

Name of publication: The Herald

Name of Journalist: Albert Nhamoyebonde

Date: 7 June 2012

Country: Zimbabwe

Theme: Politics, Economics

Skills: Use of data; Language

Genre: Opinion & Analysis

Gem classification: Subtle stereotypes

Description

Politicians put themselves up for election in order to exercise power to control the levers of the State or just to control the apparatus of State governance. What then happens when a revolution has taken place like it did in the Middle East? Those politicians who were marginalised offer themselves to the electorate. But the electorate is of two minds whether to give absolute power to the newcomers or to the experienced politicians to maintain a balance of power and stability. In Egypt, there were about nine presidential candidates, moderates as well as hardline Islamists. The electorate preferred two candidates, one a moderate Islamist and the other a secular former army general who served as prime minister under the old regime of Hosni Mubarak. The Egyptian electorate has been given a clear choice, either to go for the new order that may be Islamic or a new president, although from the old regime. What may be in the minds of the electorate could be that they want stability to be preserved since the Islamists control parliament after securing the majority of MPs.