Ghana - 2016 Election
Ghana's longtime opposition leader Nana Akufo-Addo won the presidency on his third run for the office, a race that was largely seen as a referendum on how the incumbent party had managed the economy in this long stable democracy. In December 2016 President John Mahama sought a second term as leader of the West African country, a major exporter of oil, gold and cocoa. Nana Akufo-Addo of the opposition New Patriotic Party [NPP], a former foreign minister, seized on Ghana's current economic woes as a campaign theme, accusing Mahama and the National Democratic Congress, or NDC, of incompetence. Mahama's term had been overshadowed by the plunge in global oil prices, which reduced government revenues and contributed to soaring inflation. The government accepted a $918 million bailout from the International Monetary Fund.
In November 2015, President Mahama handily won the ruling NDC presidential primary with 95.1 percent of the 1.29 million votes cast. In October 2015, Nana Akufo-Addo won the NPP presidential primary for a third time and is slated to face Mahama for the presidency again in the November 2016 national elections. In the run up to the national elections the NPP has amplified its claims that the country’s voter register is flawed and there have been several public but mostly peaceful protests over the past several months. While the rhetoric between political parties is likely to intensify in the lead up to elections, party leaders, diplomats, religious leaders, and civil society organizations are all advocating for a peaceful electoral process.
President Mahama's term was coming to an end with the next national elections are scheduled for November 2016 [later delayed to early December]. Ghanaian electoral laws allow the commission to determine nomination fees for presidential and parliamentary candidates ahead of polls. Presidential candidates will be required to pay $12,505 and parliamentary candidates will pay $2,501 for the December 7 elections. The Electoral Commission of Ghana denied accusations that its newly released nomination fees for candidates are exorbitant and intended to frustrate smaller political parties. Presidential candidates who get 29 percent of the votes cast in the election have their money refunded. Parliamentary candidates who get 12.5 percent of the votes in their constituency have their money refunded.
Attorneys for the Ghanaian opposition National Democratic Party (NDP) filed a petition in court 13 October 2016 seeking to challenge the electoral commission’s decision to disqualify former first lady Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings, presidential candidate of the party, from the 07 December 2016 general election. The electoral commission disqualified 12 presidential candidates, including the former first lady, for failing to meet requirements it stipulated ahead of the 30 September 2016 deadline date to file their nomination documents. The presidential candidates who are qualified to participate in the elections include Mahama, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Ivor Kobina Greenstreet of the Convention People's Party (CPP), and independent candidate Jacob Osei Yeboah.
Violent clashes between supporters of rival political parties have raised concern about security as Ghanaians prepared for presidential and parliamentary elections on 07 December. Ghana's Center for Democratic Governance released a survey in mid-November 2016 that said 54 percent of Ghanaians thought political parties or candidates were "very likely" to use violence in the upcoming elections. There have been several incidents during campaigning this month. The Odododiodio parliamentary constituency in Accra has seen three violent episodes between supporters of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP).
The West African nation headed into presidential and parliamentary elections amid high inflation, rising public debt and frequent power cuts that have gone on for three years. It has been quite the reversal for a country that, in 2010, was declared one of the world’s fastest-growing economies. Mmoney is not moving around and businesses are collapsing. People are losing their jobs.
The largest opposition group, the New Patriotic Party, promised to manage the economy better. Its presidential candidate, Nana Akuffo Addo, said he would restore macroeconomic stability. "If we do not make a focused, systematic effort to change the nature of our economy, moving away from this raw material producing economy into an industrial value-added economy, we are never going to address the issues of poverty," he said.
The presidential candidate for Ghana’s opposition All People’s Congress (APC) promised an all-inclusive government, which, he said, was the only way to solve the myriad of problems Ghanaians face. Hassan Ayariga, who launched the APC in early 2016 said he was confident of winning the presidential election, after launching his manifesto at the Aviation Social Center in the capital, Accra. The dominance of the NPP and the NDC makes it unlikely for Ayariga and his APC to win this year’s presidential vote. Some supporters of the main opposition NPP said it appeared Ayariga is being funded by their opponents to undermine and destabilize the party before presidential, legislative and local elections. They said recent unprovoked media attacks have hurt their presidential candidate, Akufo-Addo, and shows their opponents are desperate and afraid to lose the upcoming polls. t Ayikoi Otoo, the former head of the NPP legal and constitutional committee, has accused Ayariga and his APC of plagiarizing parts of his party's yet to be launched manifesto.
On 09 December 2016, two respected news stations, Joy FM and Citi FM, said Akufo-Addo has won with an absolute majority over President John Mahama. Joy FM's website showed Akufo-Addo winning with 53 percent of the vote with Mahama at 45.15 percent, based on a count of 217 constituencies out of 275 in total. Citi FM gave Akufo-Addo 54.8 percent based on 190 constituencies. State broadcaster Ghana Television (GTV) alerted that President John Mahama had conceded defeat in a telephone call that Akufo-Addo confirmed. "A few minutes ago, I received a call from President Mahama congratulating me on winning the 2016 Presidential Election," he said. The country's election commission said Akufo-Addo received 53.8 percent of the vote, Mahama 44.4 percent.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
