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| Constitution |
 Africaportal  Politicsportal |
A referendum on a new constitution was held in Ghana on 28 April 1992. The main issues were the reintroduction of multi-party politics and the division of powers between the president and parliament.
There were 8,255,690 registered voters for the referendum.
In December 1981 Jerry Rawlings had come to power in a military coup. The Provisional National Defence Council was established to rule the country. In 1984, the PNDC created a National Commission on Democracy to study ways to establish participatory democracy in Ghana. The commission issued a "Blue Book" in July 1987 outlining modalities for district-level elections, which were held in late 1988 and early 1989, for newly created district assemblies. One-third of the assembly members are appointed by the government.
Under international and domestic pressure for a return to democracy, the PNDC allowed the establishment of a 258-member Consultative Assembly made up of members representing geographic districts as well as established civic or business organizations. The assembly was charged to draw up a draft constitution to establish a fourth republic, using PNDC proposals. The PNDC accepted the final product without revision, and it was put to a vote.
| Choice | Votes | % |
|---|---|---|
| For | 3,408,119 | 92.59% |
| Against | 272,855 | 7.41% |
| Total | 3,680,974 | 100% |
| Source: African Elections database | ||
On 18 May 1992, the ban on party politics was lifted in preparation for multi-party elections. The PNDC and its supporters formed a new party, the National Democratic Congress (NDC), to contest the elections. Presidential elections were held on November 3 and parliamentary elections on December 29 of that year. Members of the opposition boycotted the parliamentary elections, however, which resulted in a 200-seat parliament with only 17 opposition party members and two independents.
The new constitution entered into force on 7 January 1993, to found the Fourth Republic. On that day, Rawlings was inaugurated as president and members of parliament swore their oaths of office. In 1996, the opposition fully contested the presidential and parliamentary elections, which were described as peaceful, free, and transparent by domestic and international observers. Rawlings was re-elected with 57% of the popular vote.
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| Referendums | |
* British Togoland only | |
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Jerry John Rawlings was a Ghanaian military officer, aviator and politician who led the country for a brief period in 1979, and then from 1981 to 2001. He led a military junta until 1993, and then served two terms as the democratically elected president of Ghana. He was the longest-serving leader in Ghana's history, presiding over the country for 19 years.
The Maldivian Democratic Party is the first political party formed in the Republic of Maldives with a total membership of 50,980 individuals as of July 28, 2024.
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Nation-wide general and local elections are held every four years, typically in January and November. By-elections and referendums are held on occasion. Electoral systems include first-past-the-post, proportional representation, single non-transferable voting, and a parallel mixture of the above.
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Elections in Portugal are free, fair, and regularly held, in accordance with election law.
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The National Democratic Congress (NDC) is a social democratic political party in Ghana, founded by Jerry Rawlings, who was Head of State in Ghana from 1981 to 1993. He became the President of Ghana from 1993 to 2001. Following the formation of the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC), which ruled Ghana following the military coup d'état on 31 December 1981, there was pressure from the international community to restore democracy. The NDC was formed as the ruling party ahead of elections in 1992, in which Rawlings was elected president, and in 1996 Rawlings was re-elected as the NDC candidate. Rawlings' second term ended in 2001.
The Parliament of Ghana is the unicameral legislature of Ghana. It consists of 275 members, who are elected for four-year terms in single-seat constituencies using a first-past-the-post voting system.
Henry Romulus Sawyerr, was a Ghanaian politician and surveyor. He was Minister for Education from 1993 to 1997 in Jerry Rawlings' first presidential term of office, under the Fourth Republic. In the Second Republic, Sawyerr was Member of Parliament (MP) for Osu-Klottey as a non-party candidate. In the Third Republic, he was again elected MP but gave up the seat to be in Hilla Limann's cabinet as Minister for Transport and Communications from 1979 to 1981.
The Coalition of Domestic Observers (CODEO) is a network of civil society groups, faith-based organizations, and professional bodies that observe Ghanaian elections to ensure free, fair, and transparent elections. Since its establishment in 2000, CODEO has become the largest domestic election observer network in Ghana–consisting of forty-two civil society, professional, and faith-based organizations. CODEO also holds membership with the Global Network of Domestic Election Monitors (GNDEM) and the West African Election Observers Network (WAEON). Despite the long history of both domestic and international election observers in Africa, CODEO has established itself as a continental example for successful election observation and peaceful transitions to democratization.
The Political history of Ghana recounts the history of varying political systems that existed in Ghana during pre-colonial times, the colonial era and after independence. Pre-colonial Ghana was made up of several states and ethnic groups whose political system was categorized by 3 main administrative models; Centralized, Non-centralized and Theocratic states. In the colonial era, the British Empire employed different forms of government among its four territorial possessions in the Gold Coast. Indirect rule was implemented in the late 19th century after its success in Northern Nigeria. From the 1940s, native Ghanaians yearned for more autonomy. This resulted in the several constitutional reforms as well as the creation of the office of the Prime Minister in 1952.
