Ghanaians will vote on Monday, December 7, for a double vote in the presidential election and legislation. Observers expect a duel between outgoing President Nana Akufo-Addo and his predecessor and rival, John Mahama. This will be the first election since Jerry Rawling’s death in November last year.
From our Accra correspondent,
It is a symbolic image a few days before a presidential election promises to be close. Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo, a candidate for his own legacy, and his rival John Mahama signed on Friday a “peace pact ”in Accra, promises not to promote any violence during the voting and proclamation of the results. “I have confidence in the electoral process, and I am pleased to say that we will accept the wishes of the Ghanaian people,” said the outgoing president.
The other ten candidates were not invited to this symbolic event, but their chances of winning the highest office are slim: four years ago, no one had received more than 1% of the vote. The new Patriotic Party (NPP), defended by Nana Akufo-Addo, and the National Democratic Congress (NDC), represented by John Mahama, also a former president, have dominated political life in Ghana for almost three decades. This will be the third clash between the two rivals: John Mahama won in 2012, Nana Akufo-Addo in 2016.
“A very strong popular support for the ideals and practices of democracy”
Observers expect that this Monday, December 7, will generally see peaceful elections across the country. Police listed some hotspots, mainly in working-class neighborhoods of Accra (Ayawaso, Odododiodoo) or other major cities in the country (Tamale in the north, Nkwanta in the Volta region, in ‘Is). But since democracy was established 28 years ago, electoral violence has been rare in Ghana, and the outcome of the ballot box is a bit questionable. It must be said that Ghana is considered an example in West Africa in this area. According to 2019 ranking of the Economist Intelligence Unit, it would be the sixth most democratic country on the continent.
“The Ghanaian democratic model is an electoral democracy that strives to become a liberal democracy,” said Emmanuel Gyimah-Boadi, a Ghanaian political scientist and head of the Pan-African Research Office Afrobarometer. The success of this elected democracy is no longer demonstrable: in twenty-eight years, Ghana has experienced seven peaceful elections, including three alternations. “There is a very strong popular support among Ghanaians for the ideals and practices of democracy, and a real connection to the vote.” But Professor Gyimah-Boadi relativises, institutional controls are still weak and political openness insufficient. “As a citizen,” explains the political scientist, “I do not know, for example, the salary of the President of the Republic or Members of Parliament. There are still many gray areas in our political system. ”
Democratic transition since political change, from Kwame Nkrumah to Nana Akufo-Addo
Ghana has come a long way since its independence, which was obtained on March 6, 1957 after more than eighty years of British colonization. Under Prime Minister Kwame Nkrumah, a major figure in pan-Africanism, the former Gold Coast was renamed Ghana and became a republic in 1960. Kwame Nkrumah was overthrown in 1966 and the country entered a period of political instability, consisting of successive coups, until the takeover. Jerry Rawlings 1981. It was the latter who brought Ghana into democracy in 1992, with the adoption of a new constitution that specifically limits the life of the president to two terms. Confirmed in his functions in democratic elections, the former soldier was elected in 1996 and then peacefully gave up his seat as the opposition party’s candidate in 2000.
Jerry Rawlings has since been a judge in Ghanaian politics. In 2016, during the defeat of outgoing President John Mahama, leader of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) created by Rawlings himself in 1992, he had sharply reformulated his foal, which questioned Nana Akufo-Addo’s victory. For “JJ”, the defeat, although “humiliating” for the NDC, was “deserved” because of the many corruption scandals that had infected its presidency. John Mahama had finally accepted the Sanctions Council’s sanction. And left his place at the Jubilee House to Nana Akufo-Addo, who then introduced herself as the white knight in the fight against corruption.
A title he will not keep for long, splashing in turn of bribes and disturbances. The latest broke out in November, three weeks before the presidential election, with the surprising resignation of anti-corruption prosecutor Martin Amidu. The latter then accused the president of trying to get him to bury an explosive report on an offshore company created by the government to handle mining royalties.
No inter-ethnic violence without possible political tensions
After all, Professor Gyimah-Boadi emphasizes, Ghana has for him “a unified civil society, in terms of good governance and the promotion of democracy”. Because unlike many of its West African neighbors, Ghana has never or almost never been the site of inter-ethnic conflicts. “Christians and Muslims,” explains the political scientist, “share the same desire for a peaceful democracy. Above all, no ethnic group in Ghana needs to complain that they have been systematically and unfairly removed from power. Akans had its president, the northern region as well, Volta as well. “The main political parties are also careful to present a balanced list of candidates, in terms of ethnicity and religion – but also, more recently, gender.
It is therefore unlikely that Ghana knows between ethnic violence in the wake of Monday’s election. On the other hand, conflicts are possible between the militants, as the Electoral Commission does not enjoy full confidence in public opinion. During the campaign, opponents accused her of lacking neutrality, and the NDC even accused her clearly of going to bed with the NPP. And some observers have not refrained from criticizing a certain “amateurism”.
“I do not think the Electoral Commission has the necessary skills to play its role,” said Franklin Cudjoe, president of Imani’s think tank, without agreeing with the accusations from the NDC. “I also do not think that the election commissioners are planning with the government. They are just terribly incompetent. “To ensure better transparency, the bill in the polling stations will be public on Monday from 17.00 and the candidates have the right to demand recalculation.
At the same time, about 100 international and local observers were deployed across the country. Among them a mission from the European Union and another from the Commonwealth, as well as a group of observers from ECOWAS. The head of the latter, former Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, on Friday greeted the democratic image of Ghana, a “model for the rest of Africa”.
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