Elections and Democratic Development in Ghana: A Critical Analysis

Ghana has been described as a beacon of democracy in Africa since its transition from military dictatorship to democratic rule in 1992. Over the last three decades, Ghana has made significant progress in consolidating its democratic institutions and processes, with peaceful and transparent elections held every four years. However, there are still challenges such as corruption, poverty, and the abuse of power that the Ghanaian government must address to maintain its hard-earned democracy. Using a theoretical framework that explains democratic transitions, the article examines Ghana's history of political instability and authoritarianism, and how it has transformed into a stable democratic system. The gains and challenges of democratic governance in Ghana are also discussed, along with the prospects for the future. The article concludes with recommendations for consolidating Ghana's democratic gains and sustaining the progress made so far. This research relied on secondary data gathered from journals, articles, online publications, and books.

Democratization, 2010

2009

Ghana's 2008 general elections ushered in the country's second peaceful change of government since its return to multi-partyism in 1992. This happened against a background of generalised anxiety and distrust about electoral processes in Africa, where elections have often been depicted as sources of tension and threats to national stability. In Ghana's case, instead of providing evidence for further pessimism about democratisation, the country's electoral monitoring bodies and political actors delivered a widely accepted and credible electoral process that helps Ghana to strengthen its progress towards democratic consolidation and socioeconomic development. The defeat of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the peaceful transfer of power to the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the erstwhile leader of the opposition offer a number of lessons for countries struggling to hold transparent and violence-free elections in Africa, or leaders locked into elitist power-sharing arrangements. There remain numerous challenges requiring the new leadership's continuous attention, and certain flaws observed during the elections require effective corrective measures. Notwithstanding the challenges the country faces, however, peaceful power alternation in Ghana may be explained by three principal factors: President John Kufuor's decision to uphold the constitutional terms limit; the respect shown by social and political actors to the democratic consensus; and, above all, an efficient national electoral machinery. The peaceful transfer of power in Ghana stands in sharp contrast to the frequent setbacks to the democratisation process elsewhere in West Africa. In Mauritania, the political transition process has been halted abruptly by a military coup; in Guinea Bissau, the emergence from domestic political conflict has been interrupted by the assassination of the president and army chief.

Asian Research Journal of Arts & Social Sciences, 2018

The holdings of periodic free and fair elections have become a key step to consolidating democracies around the world. This calls for an effective means of addressing election-related issues and building strong election management bodies that have the ability to ensure the involvement of various stakeholders in the entire process. The acceptance or otherwise of election results, especially in developing countries where elections usually end in unnecessary conflicts, make electoral reforms very important. The paper reviews some of the key issues that have characterized Ghanaian elections under the Fourth Republic and throws some light on some reforms that have been carried out by the country’s electoral commission to ensure that the country’s efforts at consolidating her democracy becomes a reality. The paper does so by examining policy documents and reports on the subject under consideration. The paper found that while the EC plays a key role in electoral reform, its efforts may not yield the necessary results if it does not partner with the key stakeholders. The paper further shows that holding transparent and credible elections is a critical component of the democratization processwhich enhances the legitimacy of the government and also increases trust between the government and its people if the necessary reforms are undertaken in line with the aspirations of the people.

Cogent Social Sciences

Democracy under any system of rule is associated with vibrant political parties and credible elections. Both are indispensable in a representative democracy. The good conduct of elections within a political party promotes and consolidates democracy. Political parties in Ghana have suffered internal conflict resulting in factions, break-away, and the formation of new parties because of undemocratic party operations especially in the conduct of primaries. This act threatens the country's attempt to consolidate its democracy. Internal party reforms are adopted to ensure democratic practices and operations. The reforms include widening the electoral base of the party in the selection of candidates, simultaneous conduction of polls across constituencies, and restriction of candidates eligible for elections. These reforms are to reduce vote-buying, intimidation, physical assault, and fierce competition to enhance legitimisation of election results and the acceptability of candidates. The paper assessed how the various reforms adopted by the two major political parties in Ghana have influenced and legitimised the conduct of presidential primaries. The paper adopted a qualitative research design through interviews and reviewed extant literature to set the theoretical basis of the study. It is realised ABOUT THE AUTHOR Michael Amoako Addae is an Mphil candidate at the University of Ghana, Legon with the Department of Political Science. He holds a Bachelor in Arts (BA) degree from the same University. His research interest covers elections, governance, democracy, gender and national development. This paper was based on the author's research in shaping and contributing to effective party politics in Ghana. The work examines how political parties can contribute to the consolidation of democracy in Ghana.

Africa Spectrum, 2018

Repetitive elections are important benchmarks for assessing the maturity of Africa's electoral democracies. Yet the processes through which elections entrench a democratic culture remain understudied. We introduce an important mechanism called a democratic rupture: an infraction in the democratisation process during competitive elections that has the potential to cause a constitutional crisis. It provides a new avenue of citizen participation outside of voting, and political space for opposition party realignment and to strengthen its support. Drawing from the case of Ghana, we show how the 2012 presidential election petition challenge served as a democratic rupture by contributing to the opposition's victory in 2016, enabling its political development. First, it exposed flaws in the electoral system and led to demands for electoral reforms. Second, it led to citizens being better educated on the electoral process. Third, it taught political parties that vigilance at the pol...

Asian Research Journal of Arts & Social Sciences, 2018

Ghana has experienced three peaceful transfers of power over the past 26 years. There are effective systems in place that have been handling election-related issues in the country. The people have accepted democracy as the ‘only game in town’. The paper adopts an expository approach. It uses both primary and secondary sources of information such as press releases, news items, official reports from the EC and various election observer groups and international organizations. Interviews and focus group discussions were also undertaken. The study finds that Ghana still faces some challenges in terms of its ability to produce some democratic dividends despite the many years of enjoying a seemingly consolidated democracy. Massive unemployment persists; corruption exists in all branches of government; political elites usually escape the ambit of the law while the poor masses are always hemmed in. Are these really characteristics of a consolidated democracy? The paper submits that despite the fact that most of the conditions that fuel democratic consolidation exist in Ghana, the country is now on the second step of the democratic consolidation ladder- electoral democracy. In essence, there are better prospects for future democratic consolidation in the country.

Following the successful conduct of the 2008 general elections that led to a peaceful transfer of power from the ruling party to the opposition, Ghana's respect and democratic credentials in Africa and among the international community has further boosted. The nation has received several commendations for the giant strides made towards democratic consolidation. Given the high incidence of rejected ballot papers that however characterizes the conduct of elections in Ghana, it is feared that the giant strides being made towards democratic consolidation may suffer severe set back. At the minimum, democracy is consolidated when elections are periodically held for the people to express their choice as to who should represent and lead them.This paper discusses the incidence of rejected ballots in Ghana since 1992 and argues that the high incidence of rejected ballots that have so far characterized elections in Ghana if not checked, poses a severe threat to the realization of the minimum requirement for democratic consolidation in Ghana. The study also discusses several measures that must be put in place to reduce the phenomenon in a manner that would ensure that the will of the people are clearly expressed and known after the conduct of elections.

Political pundits and civil society organizations have been making clarion calls for the adoption of proportional representation electoral process in Ghana so as to end the perceived antagonism in Ghana‟s political system. Using a review of scholarly materials, this paper examines the feasibility of the proportional representation electoral system in Ghana. It argues that the most significant aspect of democratic consolidation and development is not entirely about the type of electoral system adopted but the strengthening of the institutions of state. Therefore, by strengthening the institutions of government, the much needed political goods will be delivered to the citizenry, which will go a long way to improve the democratic process and development of Ghana.

2013

The 2012 elections were peaceful, but the results were contested by the New Patriotic Party in a petition brought to the Supreme Court challenging the National Democratic Congress and the Electoral Commission of Ghana. Revelations during the hearing of the petition raised some disquiet about the abilities of the ECG and the integrity of Ghana's electoral institutions. The fallout from the 2012 elections demands a criti cal intellectual engagement with the institutional foundation of the elections. There were several institutional changes in the Ghanaian system in the build-up to the elections as well as changes in the general political economy of the country that have made access to public office particularly attractive. This article reviews the institutional context of the elections and examines the constitutional and non-constitutional rules relating to electoral governance, focusing on such issues as electoral management, delimitation of constituencies and assembly size, electoral formula, voting procedure and ballot structure and the party system. It demonstrates how these institutions were implicated in the challenges relating to the electoral process during the 2012 elections, providing insights into how to overcome them.