Free and Fair Elections in Ghana, do winners and losers believe it?

Free and fair elections in Ghana are important to every country, and Ghana is no exception as we gear up for Election 2024.

Eight successful elections have taken place in Ghana since the 1992 republican constitution brought back democratic elections and processes (1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020).

Nearly every one of them is tagged as a free and fair election in Ghana or not free and fair based on the resulting outcomes, circumstances prevailing at the time, and the political party that was declared the winner. 

Read: Politics of Insult: An Uncivilized Understanding of Democracy in Ghana.

Elections held since 2000 have had the results declared by the Electoral Commission of Ghana challenged very often by the losing political party or a member of parliament contestant.

When someone challenges the result, they point to various irregularities as evidence. Such actions are sometimes ill-thought of or a mere attempt to refuse reality. Such actions attempt to indicate that the results are not a true reflection of the elections. Some of these challenges have ended up in court. 

The New Patriotic Party filed the most recent and significant landmark case following the 2012 elections, in which the NDC’s John Mahama defeated the incumbent president, H.E. Nana Addo, in a fiercely contested election that the winning political party claimed to be free and fair.

In all these elections, international observers and their local counterparts, such as the Coalition of Domestic Election Observers (CODEO), have had their own reports that paint a picture from their viewpoint. 

These election observers’ conclusions that the elections have been “free and fair” never go down well with the losing political party.

These divergent observations between election observers and political parties have been the main issue that has led to losing political parties contesting the results declared by the EC. 

In 2004, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) challenged the Electoral Commission of Ghana’s results. This happened again in 2008, when the NDC accused the EC after a nail-biting contest sent the elections into a runoff, which the NDC won under the leadership of the late President John Evans Atta Mills.

Party loyalists’ personal convictions have influenced free and fair elections in Ghana and the associated perceptions.

When the NPP lost in the run-off to the NDC, they also accused the EC; a 6-month petition at Ghana’s Supreme Court challenged the results of the 2012 general election.

Read: Election 2020: Akufo-Addo orders security agencies to deal with troublemakers regardless of party affiliation.

The NPP sought to use the court to overturn the results declared by the Electoral Commission; however, the case went in favour of the NDC.

Following an almost one million-vote gap between the NDC and the NPP, the electoral commission declared the opposition NPP, led by then-flagbearer Nana Addo, winners of the 2016 election. After losing, some elements in the NDC have come up with all manner of conspiracies to prove that the NPP cheated in the elections.

From the above historical perspective and the acceptance and rejection of elections as being free and fair, one can say that it depends on whether the party rejecting the results is on the losing side or not.

When the NDC lost the 2016 elections, they came out to inform their supporters that the NDC was in a comfortable lead; the NPP did not openly and gracefully accept defeat in the 2012 election, even after the court petition ruling had gone against them.

Accepting defeat gracefully is one sure way to go. Political parties and politicians must not see elections as a must-win at all costs.

FQAs: How do I send my content for publication during elections in Ghana?

To send your content for publication on elections in Ghana, click on the link (Publish IT) and provide all the essential details required on the submission form. Don’t forget to upload your content, too. Once your content passes our editorial policy, click submit and wait for its publication. All submitted content must fall under one of the site’s categories. We look forward to receiving your content. Thanks