poli 444 electoral politics and democrcy in ghana · 2014/2015 – 2016/2017 poli 444 electoral...

College of Education

School of Continuing and Distance Education 2014/2015 – 2016/2017

POLI 444 ELECTORAL POLITICS AND DEMOCRCY IN

GHANA

SESSION 13 : EMERGING TRENDS, STRENGTHS, CHALLENGES AND PROSPECTS OF ELECTORAL

POLITICS IN GHANA Lecturer: Mr. Alex K. D. Frempong

Contact Information: [email protected] /[email protected]

SESSION OVERVIEW

• In this concluding session we shall identify trends that have emerged within and across the various phases of Ghana’s electoral history from 1951. We shall then discuss the strengths and challenges as well as offer some recommendations for the future.

2/24/2019 Lecturer: Mr Alex K. D. Frempong Slide 2

SESSION OUTLINE

The key topics to be covered in this session are:

• Topic 1: MAJOR TRENDS IN ELECTORAL POLITICS IN GHANA

REPRESENTATION IN GHANAIAN POLITICS

• Topic 2: STRENGTHS AND CHALLENGES OF ELECTORAL POLITICS IN GHANA

• Topic 3: PROSPECTS FOR IMPROVEDELECTORAL POLITICS IN GHANA

2/24/2019 Lecturer Mr. Alex K. D. Frempong Slide 3

READING MATERIALS

• Frempong, A. K. D (2017) Elections in Ghana (1951-2016), Tema: Digibooks Ltd.

• Ninsin, K. A. (2016) Issues in Ghana’s Electoral Politics, Dakar: CODESRIA

• Ayee, J. R. (2017) “Ghana’s Election of 7 December 2016: A Post-Mortem”, South African Journal of International Affairs, Vol 24, No.3, pp. 311-330

Lecturer: Mr. Alex K. D. Frempong Slide 4 2/24/2019

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

At the end of the session, students should be able to:

• Clearly identify the major trends in electoral politics in Ghana

• Analyse the strengths and challenges of electoral politics in Ghana

• Suggest innovative ways for improving electoral politics in Ghana


EMERGING TRENDS IN ELECTORAL POLITICS IN GHANA

Topic one

2/24/2019 Lecturer: Mr. Alex K. D. frempong Slide 6

GENERAL EMERGING TRENDS IN ELECTORAL POLITICS IN GHANA

Among the trends which cut across all phases of Ghana’s electoral history are:

• Ghana has had a long history with elections from the colonial era, through the first three republics. In the Fourth Republic, it has had the privilege of holding seven consecutive elections from 1992-2016

• Elections in Ghana have been conducted under varied systems: parliamentary in the colonial era and the Second Republic, neo-presidential in the First Republic and presidential in the Third and Fourth Republics

• Over most periods in Ghana’s electoral history two political party traditions have dominated: the CPP (Nkrumahist) and the UP (Danquah-Busia-Dombo) up to the Third Republic and the UP and Rawlings (NDC) traditions in the Fourth

• Since 1954, independent parliamentary candidates who have been successful have been generally associated with parties, party aspirants who have gone independent in protesters

2/24/2019 Lecturers: Mr. Alex K. D. Frempong Slide 7

GENERAL EMERGING TRENDS IN ELECTORAL POLITICS IN GHANA (CONTD)

• Electoral politics in Ghana has been marked by very low women representation. From a single female in 1954, the highest number of 37 elected women in 2016 out of 275, represented only 13.5%. The affirmative action policy that the CPP government introduced in 1960 has still not been re-introduced.

• At the presidential level, the best so far was the first female presidential candidate who performed poorly in 2016 and female vice presidential candidates for parties with very little chance of winning.

• At various stages opposition political parties have merged in the hope of presenting a more formidable challenge at the next election but have not succeeded so far.

• While incumbent parties have exploited their advatanges, a number of elections in the Fourth Republic have proved that incumbency is not always an advantages

•

2/24/2019 Lecturer: Mr. Alex K. D. Frempong Slide 8

GENEERAL EMERGING TRENDS IN ELECTORAL POLITICS IN GHANA (CONT’D)

• In several elections in Ghana’s electoral history, Ghanaians have punished parties which have gone to the poll too complacent

• Since 1979, various political parties have taken pains to balance their presidential tickets along geographical/regional, religious and gender lines

• Some positive electoral measures adopted out of bitter electoral experiences have been retained: the rejection of the one-party system and the carpet crossing, single parliamentary and presidential voting day


EMERGING TRENDS IN THE FOURTH REPUBLIC

The seven electoral cycles have allowed new trends to emerge in the Fourth Republic:

• There has emerged so far a two-term cycle for each party which wins the presidential election resulting in three alternations in power

• So far, the party which wins the presidency also wins majority in Parliament

• Four regions have voted for the presidential winner in all the seven elections by swing every two elections: Brong Ahafo, Central, Greater Accra & Western

• In the few instances that there have been run-offs, third parties have played the role of ‘kingmakers. However the third parties are increasing having a smaller share of presidential votes

• Among the two dominant parties (NDC & NPP),presidential candidates presented repeated have eventually won out of better name recognition and and sympathy votes.

• 2/24/2019 Mr. Alex K. D. Frempong Slide 10

EMERGING TRENDS IN THE FOURTH REPUBLIC (CONT’D)

At the parliamentary level in the Fourth Republic:

• Long serving MPs have emerged serving three to seven terms. At the same time each election has produced several one-term MPs

• While the proportion of seats controlled by the NDC & NPP together have kept increasing, that of third parties have kept decreasing to the extent that there was none in 2016

• Most of the 15 independent parliamentary winners so far have been party (NDC/NPP) protesters who had been denied party primaries or lost controversial primaries

• While the number of female parliamentary winners have kept increasing, the proportion still remains less than 15% of the total membership of Parliament

• A number of defeated MPs have staged comebacks. In 2016, there were 10 of them

• Over the seven parliamentary terms several by-elections have been held for varied reasons: death, disqualifications and resignations


TOPIC TWO

• STRENGTHS AND CHALLENGES OF ELECTORAL POLITICS IN THE FOURTH REPUBLIC


STRENGTHS OF ELECTORAL POLITICS IN THE FOURTH REPUBLIC

• The independence of the Electoral Commission and its work with the Intra-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) helped to introduce several reforms which had allowed it to improve the management of elections.

• The alternation in power every two terms have ensured that neither of the two parties stay too long as a loser and can re-strategise and come back to power after losing it.

• The two-party system has ensured that there is always a party strong enough to keep the ruling party on its toes

• The role of civil society organizations, the media, traditional authorities and religious leaders have all contribute to peaceful elections in the Fourth Republic

• The long history of elections have always pushed Ghanaians to maintain their image as a beacon of democracy

• In times of run-offs, third parties have played their roles as ‘king makers’.

• The various institutions of government have all played their respect roles in ensuring free and fair elections


• Over-exploitation of incumbency by the ruling party. While the party in power campaigns in affluence, the opposition parties do so in penury.

• There are exists serious intra-party rivalry during primaries and inter-party rivalry during elections

• The dominance of the two major parties (NDC &NPP) has worked against the growth of an effective third force and Ghanaians are forced to choice between the rock and the hard place, the devil and the deep blue sea

• Threat of violence and sometimes pockets of violence that have characterized the election through the use of armed youth is not good for democracy

• Increasingly there have been ethnic under tones during election campaigns

• There is increasing over-monetization of the election campaign which puts off those who are not too rich but can make better contribution in politics.

• There have been some challenges in the management of elections: bloated electoral register, registration of foreigners and minors etc

• There is serious under representation of women who form a majority in Ghana


CHALLENGES OF ELECTORAL POLITICS IN THE FOURTH REPUBLIC

TOPIC THREE

• SUGGESTIONS FOR THE FUTURE

2/24/2019 Lecturers: Mr. Alex K. D. Frempong Slide 15

• The many third parties should come together to provide a more effective alternative to the two major parties

• There should be the setting up of an election fund to assist all the parties to reduce the over-exploitation of incumbency

• The leaders and their followers must be educated to know that violence is not a good means of winning power and also on their civic rights and responsibilities


SUGGESTIONS FOR THE FUTURE

SUGGESTIONS FOR THE FUTURE (CONT’D)

• The Electoral Commission must work hard to deal with some of its challenges in election administration

• Some form of proportional representation should be adopted to ensure that women are fairly represented in government.

• Political parties should be made to declare their sources of funding


REFERENCES

• Frempong, A. K. D (2017) Elections in Ghana (1951-2016), Tema: Digibooks Ltd.

• Ninsin, K. A. (2016) Issues in Ghana’s Electoral Politics, Dakar: CODESRIA

• Ayee, J. R. (2017) “Ghana’s Election of 7 December 2016: A Post-Mortem”, South African Journal of International Affairs, Vol 24, No.3, pp. 311-330


PRACTICE QUESTIONS

• Identify any three trends that have emerged in electoral politics in Ghana in the Fourth Republic

• Indicate any two strengths and two challenges of electoral politics in Ghana in the Fourth Republic

• Suggest ways of improving women representation in government in Ghana

• Suggest to ways for improving elections in Ghana

2/24/2019 Lecturer: Mr.Alex K. D. Frempong Slide 19

poli 444 electoral politics and democrcy in ghana · 2014/2015 – 2016/2017 poli 444 electoral...

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