Ghana's Elections, How It Happened

By Hannah Annor

Professor John Evans Atta Mills of the main opposition party, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) has been declared president elect for Ghana to succeed President John Agyekum Kufuor.
He would officially receive the mantle from President Kufuor at a ceremony in Accra on January 7.
The president- elect won the seat elections in a historic battle, which saw Ghanaians going to the polls on two occasions, December 7 for the presidential and parliamentary elections and on December 28 for a presidential run-off.
The December 7 polls could not produce a winner since none of the candidates attained the constitutional requirement of 50 per cent plus one vote.
As if the two occasions were not enough, Ghanaians were again kept in suspense for another four days to make way for the conduct of elections in one constituency called Tain in the Brong Ahafo region.
Tain constituents could cast their ballot in the presidential run-off because some ballot papers were alleged to have been missing.
But Ghana’s statutory institution in charge of the Elections, the Electoral Commission later come out to explain that the number of ballot papers sent to Tain were accurate but the problem occurred when distributing them.
It said some polling centres were given more than the required number of ballot papers, leading to shortages elsewhere.
In the December 7 elections, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo- Addo, presidential candidate of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) took the lead with 49. 13 per cent and Prof Mills followed with 47.92 per cent.
However, the battle turned around during the presidential run-off where Prof Mills swept the lead from his contender, Nana Akufo Addo to take the seat.
Prof Mills took the seat with 50. 23 per cent whilst Nana-Akufo-Addo also had 49.77 per cent.
Prof Mills’ message of “change” seemed to have gone down well with Ghanaians who gave him their thumb to lead the country as compared to his contender’s message of “ We Are Moving Forward”.
Before the elections, Prof Mills, 64, was seen to have intensified his campaign this year, embarking on a door to door campaign dubbed “ I care for you” in order to win the sympathy of electorates.
It appeared this strategy worked well for him, which saw his massive victory, especially in his hometown, the Central region.
The President-elect who was vice to President Jerry John Rawlings, who handed over power to President Kufuor in 2000, won the seat after contesting with the NPP on three conservative times in 2000, 2004 and this elections.
During the elections, all was calm in the country with very few irregularities. This made the country receive lots of commendation from the international community as well as other international observers who thronged into Ghana to monitor the elections.
The December 7 election, which also elected 230 parliamentarians, saw the defeat of some key personalities of the NPP such as the Information Minister to the Kufuor administration and other NDC gurus.
The NDC therefore won more seats than the NPP and therefore would have a simple majority representation in Parliament.
The NDC had 114 members in parliamentarians against 107 for the NPP.
The NDC therefore capitalized on this to win the presidential seat, campaigning that it had the majority in Parliament and therefore needed the mandate of Ghanaians for the presidency in order to also push its agenda.
It therefore became a big surprise to the NPP when provisional results of the presidential run-off started pouring in on the electronic media showing NDC in the lead.
The political tension has now cooled out in the country and all are awaiting January 7, for the smooth transition.
The President-elect had already named a team to ensure a smooth transition and he is calling for peace and cooperation from the entire citizenry in order to serve the country as expected.
On whether Ghana and the United States have similar patterns in terms of politics, it will be recalled that when Bill Clinton was leaving office in 2000, he handed over to President George .W Bush who was then in opposition.
Similarly, Ghana voted for the NPP , then in opposition and therefore former President Rawlings handed over power to President Kufuor in the same year.
Furthermore, when Barack Obama of the American Democrat party won the elections, some NDC compatriots started prophesying victory for the NDC which incidentally shared a common slogan of “ Change” with Obama.
Interestingly, the vice presidential candidate to Prof Mills, John Mahama who is now the Vice-President elect was even nick named Obama during the campaigning.
Some analysts have therefore questioned whether Ghana’s politics would in subsequent years follow the American pattern?. Perhaps time would tell.
Another interesting issue has to do with the names of the three successive head of states that have ruled the country in previous years.
Former President Rawlings was called John, President Kufuor was also a John and the President elect is also a John.
Are John’s the most anointed to lead Ghana and are preparing the way for a “messiah” to come . Perhaps time would prove this too.
Even for the next administration , the Vice President is also a John and coincidentally shared a similar surname with his successor, Alhaji Aliu Mahama.
Ghana had so far been a shinning example to Africa and the world at large by proving that it was possible for an African country to hold elections without any violence.
She was the first country to have independence in sub-Saharan Africa and continues to maintain her position as one of the most respected countries within the West African sub-region.
Ghana, with a population of over 22 million is the second global leader in cocoa production and also second for Gold.
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