Ghanaian general election, 2008

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Ghanaian general election, 2008

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  2004 7, 28 December 2008 & 2 January 2009 2012  

  John Atta Mills.jpg Nana Akufo-Addo at European Development Days 2017.jpg
Nominee John Atta Mills Nana Akufo-Addo
Party NDC NPP
Popular vote4,521,0324,480,446
Percentage50.2%49.8%

2008 Ghanaian General Election Map.png

2008 General election results map by region.
   NDC

   NPP

President before election

John Kufuor
NPP

President-elect

John Atta Mills
NDC

Coat of arms of Ghana.svg
This article is part of a series on the
politics and government of
Ghana
Constitution

General elections were held in Ghana on 7 December 2008. [1] Since no candidate received more than 50% of the votes, a run-off election was held on 28 December 2008 between the two candidates who received the most votes, Nana Akufo-Addo and John Atta Mills. [2] Mills was certified as the victor in the run-off election on January 3, 2009, by a margin of less than one percent. [3] It is to date the closest election in Ghanaian history.

Ghana Republic in West Africa

Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country located along the Gulf of Guinea and Atlantic Ocean, in the subregion of West Africa. Spanning a land mass of 238,535 km2 (92,099 sq mi), Ghana is bordered by the Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, Togo in the east and the Gulf of Guinea and Atlantic Ocean in the south. Ghana means "Warrior King" in the Soninke language.

Two-round system voting system used to elect a single winner where a second round of voting is used if no candidate wins an absolute majority in the first round

The two-round system is a voting method used to elect a single winner, where the voter casts a single vote for their chosen candidate. However, if no candidate receives the required number of votes, then those candidates having less than a certain proportion of the votes, or all but the two candidates receiving the most votes, are eliminated, and a second round of voting is held.

Nana Akufo-Addo President of Ghana

Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo is currently the President of Ghana. He has been in office since January 2017. He previously served as Attorney General from 2001 to 2003 and as Minister for Foreign Affairs from 2003 to 2007 under the Kuffuor led administration.

Contents

Background

On 21 December 2006, former Vice-President John Atta Mills, who unsuccessfully ran as the National Democratic Congress (NDC) presidential candidate in 2000 and 2004, was overwhelmingly elected by NDC as its candidate for the 2008 presidential election. [4]

Vice-President of Ghana political role

The Vice-President of the Republic of Ghana is the second-highest executive official in Ghana. The vice-president, together with the President of Ghana, is directly elected by the people through popular vote to serve a four-year term of office. The vice-president is the first person in the presidential line of succession, and would ascend to the presidency upon the death, resignation, or removal of the president. The current vice-president is Mahamudu Bawumia, who took office on 7 January 2017, under President Nana Akufo-Addo.

National Democratic Congress (Ghana) political party in Ghana

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) is a social democratic political party in Ghana, founded by Jerry Rawlings, who was Head of State of Ghana from 1981 to 1993 and 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 as re-elected as the NDC candidate. Rawlings' second term ended in 2001. The NDC lost the presidency in the 2000 election, and it was not until the 2008 election that they regained it with candidate John Atta Mills.

Former Foreign Minister Nana Akufo-Addo was elected as the 2008 presidential candidate of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) at a party congress on 23 December 2007. Although he fell short of the required 50%, the second-place candidate, John Alan Kyeremanten, conceded defeat and backed Akufo-Addo. [5]

New Patriotic Party political party in Ghana

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) is a centre-right and liberal conservative party in Ghana. Since the democratization of Ghana in 1992, it has been one of the two dominant parties in Ghana politics; its leading rival being the centre-left National Democratic Congress (NDC). John Kufuor of the NPP was President of Ghana from 2001 to 2009. At the elections held on 7 December 2004, the party won 129 out of 230 seats. The NPP candidate was Kufuor, who was re-elected as President with 52.75% of the vote. The New Patriotic Party symbol is the African elephant and the New Patriotic Party colors are red, white, and blue.

The stakes of the election were raised by the discovery of oil in Ghana and an expectation for incoming oil revenues to begin in 2010. [6] Additionally, allegations of electoral fraud that resulted in violence following elections in Kenya and Zimbabwe and military coups d'état in Mauritania and Guinea caused international election monitors to hope the Ghanaian elections would refurbish the image of constitutional democracy in Africa. [6]

Coup détat Sudden deposition of a government; illegal and overt seizure of a state by the military or other elites within the state apparatus

A coup d'état, also known as a putsch, a golpe, or simply as a coup, means the overthrow of an existing government; typically, this refers to an illegal, unconstitutional seizure of power by a dictator, the military, or a political faction.

2008 Mauritanian coup détat

A coup d'état took place in Mauritania on August 6, 2008, when Mauritanian President Sidi Mohamed Ould Cheikh Abdallahi was ousted from power by a group of high-ranking generals he had dismissed from office earlier that day.

2008 Guinean coup détat

The 2008 Guinean coup d'état was a Guinean military coup d'état that occurred in Guinea on 23 December 2008, shortly after the death of long-time President Lansana Conté. A junta called the National Council for Democracy and Development, headed by Captain Moussa Dadis Camara, seized power and announced that it planned to rule the country for two years prior to a new presidential election. Camara did indeed step down after Alpha Condé was elected in the 2010 election.

Presidential candidates

The following eight candidates formally registered with the Electoral Commission of Ghana. [7]

Electoral Commission of Ghana

The Electoral Commission of Ghana is the official body in Ghana responsible for all public elections. Made up of seven members, its independence is guaranteed by the 1992 Ghana constitution. The current commission was established by the Electoral Commission Act of 1993. Kwadwo Afari-Gyan was the first substantive Chairman of the Commission from 1993-2015. In December 5,2018 the Electoral commission chaired by Jean Adukwei Mensah reverted to the old logo Eagles with coat of arms after the controversy over the new logo

Minister for Foreign Affairs (Ghana) Ghana government official

The Minister for Foreign Affairs is the Ghana government official who is responsible for overseeing the country's foreign policy and international diplomacy. The minister is usually one of the most senior members of Cabinet.

Parliament of Ghana

The Parliament of Ghana is the legislative body of the Government of Ghana.

Democratic Freedom Party political party

The Democratic Freedom Party (DFP) was a political party in Ghana. It was formed in 2006 and eventually merged with the National Democratic Congress in 2011. It came in fourth place in the Ghanaian general election of 2008 with 0.33% of the total vote.

Opinion polls

A poll conducted in April 2008 showed Mills slightly ahead of Akufo-Addo. The National Commission for Civic Education conducted the poll which sampled 5,327 people. The poll also predicted a high voter turnout of 96.9%. Respondents came from coastal, middle and northern areas of the country. [8]

Another poll conducted in October 2008 by the Angus Reid Global Monitor saw Akufo-Addo leading. The poll was conducted by interviewing 3,000 adults in all the regions of the country. [9]

AdministeredAkufo-Addo
(NPP)
Ansah-Antwi
(DFP)
Mills
(NDC)
Mahama
(PNC)
Nduom
(CPP)
UndecidedSource
Apr. 200842.6% 42.9%1.1%6.3%7.1%
Oct. 200850.5%0.4%35.6%2.1%7.0% 

Results

Turnout on election day was very high. Since few votes were expected for other candidates than those of the two largest parties, a first-round victory for Akufo-Addo or Mills was seen as possible, but Nduom stated he wished to "surprise" the other parties by gaining enough votes to force a run-off between the two others. [10] With 40% of the vote counted, Akufo-Addo was leading with 49.5% to Mills's 47.6%. [11] While Mills pulled ahead afterwards, Akufo-Addo again led by a slim margin with over 70% of the votes counted. [12]

The second round was rerun on 28 December 2008 but due to logistics problems, the Tain District alone had its run-off election on 2 January 2009 due to problems with distributing ballots. Following the voting on 28 December, Mills led by a slim margin, causing the Election Commission to state it would not announce Mills as the winner until after the election rerun in Tain. [13] Prior to the announcement hundreds of NDC supporters converged on the election headquarters demanding that Mills be declared the victor, but were kept at bay by riot police and armed soldiers. [6]

Fear of election day violence caused the NPP to file a lawsuit seeking to delay voting in Tain as it claimed that "the atmosphere in the rural district was not conducive to a free and fair election". The court denied the NPP's injunction request and said it would only hear the case on 5 January 2009. In response, the NPP called its supporters to boycott the vote, for which it was criticised by civil groups. [14]

President

PartyCandidateFirst roundSecond round
VotesPercentageVotesPercentage
National Democratic Congress John Atta Mills 4,056,63447.92%4,521,03250.23%
New Patriotic Party Nana Akufo-Addo 4,159,43949.13%4,480,44649.77%
Convention People's Paa Kwesi Nduom 113,4941.34%
People's National Convention Edward Mahama 73,4940.87%
Democratic Freedom Emmanuel Ansah-Antwi27,8890.33%
Independent Kwasi Amoafo-Yeboah19,3420.23%
Democratic People's Thomas Ward-Brew8,6530.10%
Reformed Patriotic DemocratsKwabena Adjei6,8890.08%
Valid votes8,465,83497.63%9,001,47898.98%
Invalid or blank votes205,4382.37%92,8861.02%
Totals8,671,272100.00%9,094,364100.00%
Voter turnout69.52%72.91%
Source: Electoral Commission of Ghana, ,

Parliament

PartyVotes%Seats+/–
New Patriotic Party 4,013,01346.9107–21
National Democratic Congress 3,776,91742.2116+22
Convention People's Party 252,2663.01–2
People's National Convention 117,7321.42–2
Independents390,0504.54+3
Invalid/blank votes205,438
Total8,755,4161002300
Registered voters/turnout12,472,75870.2
Source: Adam Carr, IPU

By region

Map showing the party-political geography of Ghana after the 2008 parliamentary elections. Green: National Democratic Congress Blue: New Patriotic Party Yellow: People's National Convention Red: Convention People's Party Grey: Independent Ghana 2008 Parliamentary Map.png
Map showing the party-political geography of Ghana after the 2008 parliamentary elections. Green: National Democratic Congress Blue: New Patriotic Party Yellow: People's National Convention Red: Convention People's Party Grey: Independent
PartyAshantiBrong AhafoCentralEasternGreater AccraNorthernUpper EastUpper WestVoltaWesternTotal
National Democratic Congress 391181821862111114
New Patriotic Party 34158199443110107
Independent 20010100004
People's National Convention 00000011002
Convention People's Party 00000000011
National Total3923*1927*272613102222228
Source: Electoral Commission of Ghana

Aftermath

The effective management of the 2008 election by the Electoral Commission of Ghana, raised interest for African and international election reformers. [15] In November 2009, a conference was held to analyze the 2008 election, and try to establish new standards and practices for African election commissions. [15] Held in Accra, the conference was titled Colloquium on African Elections:Best Practices and Cross-Sectoral Collaboration. [15] The conference was organized by a number of international election reform organizations including the National Democratic Institute, the Africa Center for Strategic Studies, the International Foundation for Electoral Systems, the Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy, the Open Society Initiative for West Africa and UNDP. [15] Conference participants agreed to a communique that makes recommendations directed at African governments, civil society organizations, election management bodies, political parties, election monitoring and observer groups, security services, and the media to improve the credibility of elections in Africa. [16]

See also

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References

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