Elections in Ghana

Ghana

This article is part of the series: Politics and government of Ghana

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Elections in Ghana gives information on election and election results in Ghana.

Ghana elects on national level a head of state, the president, and a legislature. The president is elected for a four year term by the people. The Parliament of Ghana has 230 members, elected for a four year term in single-seat constituencies. The presidential election is won by 50% plus one vote whilse the parliamentary elections is won by simple majority,and, as is predicted by Duverger's law, the voting system has encouraged Ghanaian politics into a two-party system, which means that there are two dominant political parties, with extreme difficulty for anybody to achieve electoral success under the banner of any other party. Elections have been held every four years since 1992. Presidential and parliamentary elections are held alongside each other, generally on 7 December.

Latest elections

Presidential

Main article: Ghanaian presidential election, 2008

• Ghanaian presidential election, 2004
• Ghanaian presidential election, 1960

Parliamentary

Main article: Ghanaian parliamentary election, 2004

 Summary of the 7 December 2004 Ghana Parliament election results

Parties and alliances	Votes	%	Seats
New Patriotic Party	4,524,074	52.45%	128
National Democratic Congress	3,850,368	44.64%	94
Grand Coalition People's National Convention Great Consolidated Popular Party Every Ghanaian Living Everywhere	165,375	1.92%	4
Convention People's Party	85,968	1.00%	3
Non-partisans	48,216	0.57%	1
Total (turnout  %)			230
Source: allafrica.com

Past elections

In 1996, the opposition fully contested the presidential and parliamentary elections, which were described as peaceful, free, and transparent by domestic and international observers. In that election, President Rawlings was re-elected with 57% of the popular vote. In addition, Rawlings' NDC party won 133 of the Parliament's 200 seats, just one seat short of the two-thirds majority needed to amend the Constitution, although the election returns of two parliamentary seats face legal challenges.

See also

• Electoral calendar
• Electoral system
• Electoral Commission of Ghana

External links

• Adam Carr's Election Archive
• African Elections Database
• Ghana Elections 2008