One Election, Two Victories: Ghana’s 2016 General Elections Revisited

Awaisu Imurana Braimah; Alhassan Salifu Bawah

doi:doi:10.11648/j.ss.20190805.14

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One Election, Two Victories: Ghana’s 2016 General Elections Revisited

Awaisu Imurana Braimah, Alhassan Salifu Bawah

Published in Social Sciences (Volume 8, Issue 5)

Received: 12 August 2019 Accepted: 5 September 2019 Published: 19 September 2019

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Abstract

This article examines election-related violence that characterizes some electoral processes across Africa. The study thematically focussed on two dominant political parties in Ghana, thus the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in respect of the December 2016 Presidential election. These two political parties have alternated executive power in Ghana since the birth of the Fourth Republic in January 1993, with Ghana having failed to maintain the status quo immediately after independence from British colonial rule. The claims and counterclaims of victory immediately after polls closed in the December, 2016 Presidential and Parliamentary elections, brought Ghana to the brink of election violence. Both parties’ counter-claimed victory, purportedly based on ‘results’ obtained from their polling agents posted across the various polling stations in all the 275 constituencies. The Electoral Commission (EC), which supervised the general election was surprisingly mute in declaring the winner of the 2016 Presidential election in the midst of these controversies. This paper argues that the vacuum created by the EC per its delay in the declaration of certified Presidential election results after polls had closed, was a blot on Ghana’s status as the beacon of democracy and peace in Africa.

Published in	Social Sciences (Volume 8, Issue 5)
DOI	10.11648/j.ss.20190805.14
Page(s)	234-244
Creative Commons	This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright	Copyright © The Author(s), 2019. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Ballot Rigging, Electoral Processes, Electoral Fraud, Political Violence, Vote Buying

References

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[21]	Boafo-Arthur, K. (2004). ‘The 2004 general elections: An overview’ in Kwame Boafo-Arthur (editor), Voting for democracy in Ghana: The 2004 elections in perspective. Thematic Studies Vol. 1. Accra: Freedom Publications, Legon.

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APA Style

Awaisu Imurana Braimah, Alhassan Salifu Bawah. (2019). One Election, Two Victories: Ghana’s 2016 General Elections Revisited. Social Sciences, 8(5), 234-244. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ss.20190805.14

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Awaisu Imurana Braimah; Alhassan Salifu Bawah. One Election, Two Victories: Ghana’s 2016 General Elections Revisited. Soc. Sci. 2019, 8(5), 234-244. doi: 10.11648/j.ss.20190805.14

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AMA Style

Awaisu Imurana Braimah, Alhassan Salifu Bawah. One Election, Two Victories: Ghana’s 2016 General Elections Revisited. Soc Sci. 2019;8(5):234-244. doi: 10.11648/j.ss.20190805.14

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@article{10.11648/j.ss.20190805.14,
  author = {Awaisu Imurana Braimah and Alhassan Salifu Bawah},
  title = {One Election, Two Victories: Ghana’s 2016 General Elections Revisited},
  journal = {Social Sciences},
  volume = {8},
  number = {5},
  pages = {234-244},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ss.20190805.14},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ss.20190805.14},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ss.20190805.14},
  abstract = {This article examines election-related violence that characterizes some electoral processes across Africa. The study thematically focussed on two dominant political parties in Ghana, thus the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in respect of the December 2016 Presidential election. These two political parties have alternated executive power in Ghana since the birth of the Fourth Republic in January 1993, with Ghana having failed to maintain the status quo immediately after independence from British colonial rule. The claims and counterclaims of victory immediately after polls closed in the December, 2016 Presidential and Parliamentary elections, brought Ghana to the brink of election violence. Both parties’ counter-claimed victory, purportedly based on ‘results’ obtained from their polling agents posted across the various polling stations in all the 275 constituencies. The Electoral Commission (EC), which supervised the general election was surprisingly mute in declaring the winner of the 2016 Presidential election in the midst of these controversies. This paper argues that the vacuum created by the EC per its delay in the declaration of certified Presidential election results after polls had closed, was a blot on Ghana’s status as the beacon of democracy and peace in Africa.},
 year = {2019}
}

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TY  - JOUR
T1  - One Election, Two Victories: Ghana’s 2016 General Elections Revisited
AU  - Awaisu Imurana Braimah
AU  - Alhassan Salifu Bawah
Y1  - 2019/09/19
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AB  - This article examines election-related violence that characterizes some electoral processes across Africa. The study thematically focussed on two dominant political parties in Ghana, thus the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in respect of the December 2016 Presidential election. These two political parties have alternated executive power in Ghana since the birth of the Fourth Republic in January 1993, with Ghana having failed to maintain the status quo immediately after independence from British colonial rule. The claims and counterclaims of victory immediately after polls closed in the December, 2016 Presidential and Parliamentary elections, brought Ghana to the brink of election violence. Both parties’ counter-claimed victory, purportedly based on ‘results’ obtained from their polling agents posted across the various polling stations in all the 275 constituencies. The Electoral Commission (EC), which supervised the general election was surprisingly mute in declaring the winner of the 2016 Presidential election in the midst of these controversies. This paper argues that the vacuum created by the EC per its delay in the declaration of certified Presidential election results after polls had closed, was a blot on Ghana’s status as the beacon of democracy and peace in Africa.
VL  - 8
IS  - 5
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Author Information

Awaisu Imurana Braimah

Department of Political Science, University of Education, Winneba (UEW), Winneba, Ghana
Alhassan Salifu Bawah

Department of Marketing, Procurement & Supply Chain Management, University of Education, Winneba (UEW), Winneba, Ghana

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APA Style

Awaisu Imurana Braimah, Alhassan Salifu Bawah. (2019). One Election, Two Victories: Ghana’s 2016 General Elections Revisited. Social Sciences, 8(5), 234-244. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ss.20190805.14

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ACS Style

Awaisu Imurana Braimah; Alhassan Salifu Bawah. One Election, Two Victories: Ghana’s 2016 General Elections Revisited. Soc. Sci. 2019, 8(5), 234-244. doi: 10.11648/j.ss.20190805.14

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AMA Style

Awaisu Imurana Braimah, Alhassan Salifu Bawah. One Election, Two Victories: Ghana’s 2016 General Elections Revisited. Soc Sci. 2019;8(5):234-244. doi: 10.11648/j.ss.20190805.14

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@article{10.11648/j.ss.20190805.14,
  author = {Awaisu Imurana Braimah and Alhassan Salifu Bawah},
  title = {One Election, Two Victories: Ghana’s 2016 General Elections Revisited},
  journal = {Social Sciences},
  volume = {8},
  number = {5},
  pages = {234-244},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ss.20190805.14},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ss.20190805.14},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ss.20190805.14},
  abstract = {This article examines election-related violence that characterizes some electoral processes across Africa. The study thematically focussed on two dominant political parties in Ghana, thus the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in respect of the December 2016 Presidential election. These two political parties have alternated executive power in Ghana since the birth of the Fourth Republic in January 1993, with Ghana having failed to maintain the status quo immediately after independence from British colonial rule. The claims and counterclaims of victory immediately after polls closed in the December, 2016 Presidential and Parliamentary elections, brought Ghana to the brink of election violence. Both parties’ counter-claimed victory, purportedly based on ‘results’ obtained from their polling agents posted across the various polling stations in all the 275 constituencies. The Electoral Commission (EC), which supervised the general election was surprisingly mute in declaring the winner of the 2016 Presidential election in the midst of these controversies. This paper argues that the vacuum created by the EC per its delay in the declaration of certified Presidential election results after polls had closed, was a blot on Ghana’s status as the beacon of democracy and peace in Africa.},
 year = {2019}
}

Copy | Download

TY  - JOUR
T1  - One Election, Two Victories: Ghana’s 2016 General Elections Revisited
AU  - Awaisu Imurana Braimah
AU  - Alhassan Salifu Bawah
Y1  - 2019/09/19
PY  - 2019
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ss.20190805.14
DO  - 10.11648/j.ss.20190805.14
T2  - Social Sciences
JF  - Social Sciences
JO  - Social Sciences
SP  - 234
EP  - 244
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2326-988X
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ss.20190805.14
AB  - This article examines election-related violence that characterizes some electoral processes across Africa. The study thematically focussed on two dominant political parties in Ghana, thus the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in respect of the December 2016 Presidential election. These two political parties have alternated executive power in Ghana since the birth of the Fourth Republic in January 1993, with Ghana having failed to maintain the status quo immediately after independence from British colonial rule. The claims and counterclaims of victory immediately after polls closed in the December, 2016 Presidential and Parliamentary elections, brought Ghana to the brink of election violence. Both parties’ counter-claimed victory, purportedly based on ‘results’ obtained from their polling agents posted across the various polling stations in all the 275 constituencies. The Electoral Commission (EC), which supervised the general election was surprisingly mute in declaring the winner of the 2016 Presidential election in the midst of these controversies. This paper argues that the vacuum created by the EC per its delay in the declaration of certified Presidential election results after polls had closed, was a blot on Ghana’s status as the beacon of democracy and peace in Africa.
VL  - 8
IS  - 5
ER  -

Copy | Download