The Ghanaian elections of 2012

Abstract

The December 2012 presidential and parliamentary elections were again conducted under the terms of the 1992 Fourth Republican Constitution and as in 2008 were held on the same day – this time, Friday 7 December. The main contenders were the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) with John Dramani Mahama as its presidential candidate and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) with Nana Akuffo Addo as its flag-bearer. The list of eight candidates was completed by Kwesi Nduom of the Progressive Peoples Party (PPP), Abu Sakara for the Convention Peoples Party (CPP), Hassan Ayariga for the Peoples National Convention (PNC), Henry Lartey for the Great Consolidated Popular Party (GCPP), Kwesi Addai for the United Front Party (UFP) and Osei Yeboah, an Independent candidate. However, in the election build-up, only three of the minor parties’ presidential candidates seemed to be capable of having some impact on the overall results – Paa Kwesi Nduom was using his riches and effervescent personality to give publicity to the newly formed PPP, Abu Sakara of the CPP in televised presentations was displaying extensive knowledge and understanding of the issues facing Ghana, and the PNC had a national poster campaign and was now led by the younger and apparently more dynamic Hassan Ayariga in place of the four times loser Dr Edward Mahama.

The political background to the election was that the NDC had been elected for two terms in the 1990s in rather controversial circumstances following the transfer from military rule in 1992 (what the NPP termed ‘the Stolen Election’ and ‘the Bought Election’) with the NPP winning in 2000 and 2004. In 2008 the NDC very narrowly won both the parliamentary and presidential elections, the latter after a second ballot and a further vote in one constituency (Tain in Brong Ahafo Region) which had failed to hold a second ballot and which had an electorate larger than the majority of the leading candidate. In the event Professor John Evans Atta Mills was declared the winner with John Mahama as the Vice President. This victory fulfilled Samuel Huntington's requirement for a consolidated democratic polity – a second turnover of power, which indicates the recognition by both the political elite and public that when things go wrong it is the rulers and not the regime which need to be changed (Huntington 1993 Huntington, S. P. 1993. The Third Wave, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. [Google Scholar] , 267).