Presidential election | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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Results by region | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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All 140 seats in Parliament 71 seats needed for a majority | ||||||||||||||||||||||
This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below. |
Constitution |
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Africaportal Politicsportal |
General elections were held in Ghana on 18 June 1979, with a second round of the presidential election on 9 July 1979. The presidential election resulted in victory for Hilla Limann of the People's National Party, who received 62% of the votes in the run-off, [1] whilst his PNP won 71 of the 140 seats in Parliament. According to one scholar, the elections were conducted "in as free and fair a manner as might be considered humanly possible under local conditions" and the losing candidates publicly accepted defeat. [2] Around 5,070,000 people were registered to vote. [1]
The Electoral Commissioner during the elections was Joseph Kingsley-Nyinah, an Appeal Court Judge who was appointed by the Supreme Military Council (SMC). [3] Although the SMC was overthrown on 4 June 1979, the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council military government which replaced it allowed the elections to proceed just two weeks later.
Candidate | Party | First round | Second round | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Votes | % | Votes | % | |||
Hilla Limann | People's National Party | 631,559 | 35.32 | 1,118,305 | 61.98 | |
Victor Owusu | Popular Front Party | 533,928 | 29.86 | 686,097 | 38.02 | |
William Ofori Atta | United National Convention | 311,265 | 17.41 | |||
Frank Bernasko | Action Congress Party | 167,775 | 9.38 | |||
Ibrahim Mahama | Social Democratic Front | 66,445 | 3.72 | |||
John Bilson | Third Force Party | 49,104 | 2.75 | |||
R. P. Baffour | Independent | 8,812 | 0.49 | |||
Kwame Nyanteh | Independent | 8,490 | 0.47 | |||
Mark Diamond Addy | Independent | 5,957 | 0.33 | |||
Imoru Ayarna | Independent | 4,874 | 0.27 | |||
Total | 1,788,209 | 100.00 | 1,804,402 | 100.00 | ||
Registered voters/turnout | 5,070,000 | – | ||||
Source: Nohlen et al. |
Party | Votes | % | Seats | |
---|---|---|---|---|
People's National Party | 645,080 | 36.44 | 71 | |
Popular Front Party | 541,659 | 30.60 | 42 | |
United National Convention | 310,062 | 17.51 | 13 | |
Action Congress Party | 156,484 | 8.84 | 10 | |
Social Democratic Front | 69,052 | 3.90 | 3 | |
Third Force Party | 31,887 | 1.80 | 0 | |
Independents | 16,165 | 0.91 | 1 | |
Total | 1,770,389 | 100.00 | 140 | |
Source: African Elections Database |
Party | Central | Accra | Eastern | Ashanti | Brong-Ahafo | Volta | North | Upper | Western | Total |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
People's National Party | 8 | 6 | 11 | 2 | 2 | 11 | 7 | 15 | 9 | 71 |
Popular Front Party | 0 | 1 | 6 | 19 | 10 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 42 |
United National Convention | 0 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13 |
Action Congress Party | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 10 |
Social Democratic Front | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
Independents | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Total | 15 | 10 | 21 | 22 | 13 | 16 | 14 | 16 | 13 | 140 |
Source: Jeffries [2] |
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Lieutenant General Akwasi Amankwaa Afrifa was a Ghanaian soldier, farmer, traditional ruler and politician. He was the head of state of Ghana and leader of the military government in 1969 and then chairman of the Presidential Commission between 1969 and 1970. He continued as a farmer and political activist. He was elected a member of Parliament in 1979, but he was executed before he could take his seat. He was executed together with two other former heads of state, General Kutu Acheampong and General Fred Akuffo, and five other generals, in June 1979. He was also popularly referred to by his title Okatakyie Akwasi Amankwaa Afrifa and was in addition the abakomahene of Krobo in the Asante-Mampong Traditional Area of the Ashanti Region of Ghana.
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