Ghana’s main opposition presidential candidate in the December 2020 elections has filed a petition at the country’s Supreme Court seeking to annul President Nana Akufo-Addo’s re-election.
John Mahama of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) refused to concede the election to President Akufo-Addo claiming electoral irregularities.
According to Mr. Mahama’s petition, he argues that neither he nor President Akufo-Addo attained a clear majority because of the omission of one constituency from the provisional declaration of results by Ghana’s electoral commission.
He is now asking the Supreme Court to order a re-run of the presidential election for him and the incumbent.
According to the electoral commission President Akufo-Addo garnered 51.59% of the votes while Mr. Mahama got 47.37%.
Following changes to election adjudication guidelines, the petition hearing is expected to last for at most 42 days — a far cry from the eight-month-long hearing in 2012 when President Akufo-Addo, then in opposition, unsuccessfully challenged his election defeat to Mr. Mahama.
The judgment in the hearing is expected latest by February 10, 2021.
President Akufo-Addo is proceeding with his transition and is yet to comment on the legal challenge from his opponent. His party has also just held a thanksgiving service in commemoration of the election victory.
Nana Akufo-Addo was joined by party supporters to give thanks to God for victory in the polls. Credit: Delali Adogla-Bessa / Ubuntu Times
In a public address after filing the petition, Mr. Mahama stressed that his challenge of the election results was not a mere manifestation of a desire for power but “because of a dedication to principle and a commitment to democracy.”
He said he was only chasing “the removal of doubt.”
“I want all of us to know that our elections should be free, fair, and safe and that we do not have to settle for a process that leaves us confused and with more questions than answers,” said Mr. Mahama.
The weeks leading to the petition have been marked by protests nationwide from the opposition.
These protests have been met by calls from some observers for Mr. Mahama to opt for court action and not civil disobedience.
There were fears that the protests could transition to violence because of clashes between protesters and police.
The Institute of Democratic Governance has been part of calls to the NDC and Mr. Mahama to air its grievances in court.
A research fellow with the institute, Ewald Garr, told Ubuntu Times the eventual resort to an election petition was the best possible outcome given the circumstances.
“For IDEG, we have advocated that instead of violence, they should use legal means to pursue some of these so the NDC going to court is in order.”
“The most important thing is not to engage in acts of violence that could destabilize the country. Nobody wants to see that,” said Mr. Garr.
Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-Addo has won reelection in the West African country’s eighth straight democratic election.
Akufo-Addo of the center-right New Patriotic Party obtained 51.3% of the vote in the December 7 election.
He beat his main contender, former President John Mahama of the center-left National Democratic Congress, who polled 47.4% of the vote.
There was only one constituency outstanding when the Electoral Commissioner, Jean Mensa, announced the results that sparked celebrations among Akufo-Addo’s supporters nationwide.
But hours after the declaration of results, the Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu, said Mahama’s party had rejected the results.
“We roundly reject and outrightly reject the declaration of the sitting president as the winner of the 2020 elections,” he said. “In due course, our flagbearer will brief the nation and the international community.”
The two front-runners were separated by a little over 500,000 votes.
Out of a total electorate of 17 million, more than 13 million ballots were cast as Ghanaians also chose legislators for the next four years.
The parliamentary race was tighter than expected and the governing party in danger of losing its majority in the Legislature when results are finally declared.
Supporters of President Akufo-Addo poured onto the street to celebrate his reelection. Credit: Delali Adogla-Bessa / Ubuntu Times
This was the third time the Akufo-Addo and Mahama had faced each other in a presidential election after first facing each other in 2012.
In his victory speech, Akufo-Addo, 76, set his sights on reviving an economy that was grounded by the Coronavirus pandemic.
“My immediate task will be to begin the process of reversing the effect COVID-19 has had on our economy and on our lives,” he said. “Before the pandemic struck, Ghana in recent years was one of the fastest-growing economies in the world, I give you my word, we will regain that reputation.”
Akufo-Addo’s New Patriotic Party campaigned on the need to continue projects it had started, most notably consolidating the free senior-secondary school education policy.
Observers, however, expect the Akufo-Addo’s record on corruption to receive much more scrutiny in the next four years after a series of corruption scandals.
Akufo-Addo also faces an economy riddled with debt and revenue shortfalls with a debt-to-GDP currently at 71 percent.
The electoral process has been described as free and fair by observers. Credit: Delali Adogla-Bessa / Ubuntu Times
Mahama is yet to conceded defeat in the election which his party claims suffered from electoral malpractices.
The opposition leader accused the Akufo-Addo administration of using the military to suppress votes and aid rigging but the government denied these allegations.
Before the Electoral Commission came out with its tallied results, Mahama’s party had claimed victory and urged its supporters to hit the streets and celebrate.
“You cannot use the military to try and overturn some of the results in constituencies that we have won. We will resist any attempts to subvert the sovereign will of the Ghanaian people,” Mr. Mahama said at a press conference when counting was still ongoing.
This National Democratic Congress’ apprehension culminated in a peaceful demonstration at the Electoral Commission headquarters in Accra two days after the polls, amid heightened tensions.
Though the election will go down as peaceful, pockets of violence left five people dead.
The Police Administration announced that there had been more than 60 incidents since Monday morning, 21 of which were “true cases of electoral violence.”
The Coalition of Domestic Election Observers, CODEO said its officers reported 254 incidents during the voting process.
“While there were some challenges, these challenges were isolated and did not undermine the process’s overall credibility,” it said in a statement.
Over 17 million Ghanaians are heading to the polls for an eighth straight democratic election on Monday, December 7.
Once again, the incumbent President Nana Akufo-Addo and former President John Mahama are going head-to-head as overwhelming front-runners in a field of 12 presidential candidates.
This election is unique in the fact that the two main contenders have both been Head-of-State and are looking for their second term.
Mahama lost in the 2016 election in a comprehensive fashion to Akufo-Addo; almost by 1 million votes. He thus became the first incumbent to lose an election in Ghana’s political history.
Concerns over corruption, the management of the economy and an energy sector crisis sunk Mahama’s bid for a second term.
Akufo-Addo rode on his anti-corruption agenda and the promise of the full implementation of a free secondary education policy. He succeeded at the latter but not so much the former.
Nana Akufo-Addo has history on his side as Ghanaians have always given parties two terms. Credit: Delali Adogla-Bessa / Ubuntu Times
In the weeks leading up to the polls, the opposition party has tried to make corruption the main talking point since the resignation of Ghana’s Special Prosecutor because of alleged political interference.
The government has, of course, denied the claims of corruption and it remains unclear if the recent happenings could swing the election in Mahama’s favor.
Akufo-Addo has campaigned mainly on its education initiatives, while Mahama has tried to counter the educational gains by making promises of his own, including making tertiary education free for first years if he wins the polls.
Like past elections in Ghana, there has been a decided lack of substance in the political discourse with slogans and barbs dominating party and media agendas instead of policy.
The Coronavirus and its management, for example, has barely registered beyond the expected safety protocols at the polls.
There has been no presidential debate and the manifestoes presented by the parties have been shallow with many promises but little by way of plans for execution.
The truth is Ghanaians have always voted along ethnic lines with the dominant Akan ethnic group more likely to vote for Akufo-Addo’s New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the other groups more inclined towards Mahama’s National Democratic Congress (NDC).
The fascinating thing is that there is almost a 50-50 split between the Akans (who make up 47.5 percent of the population according to Ghana’s last census) and the other ethnic groups which accounts for the regular changes in power between the two.
No party has governed for more than or less than two consecutive terms.
As the election day nears, the only message that matches up to the campaign cacophony of the NDC and NPP is the call for peace.
Whilst reminders for restraint and peace are consistent across Ghana’s mass media, very few believe there is a threat of significant election-related violence.
Since its return to a multi-party system in 1992, international observers have praised Ghana’s elections, which are perceived as peaceful and the bedrock of one of Africa’s most stable democracies.
Ghana’s landmark 2000 election saw the first-ever transfer of power between two parties in Ghana’s history and this alternation between the NDC and NPP has happened two more times.
As the years go by, fewer Ghanaians are able to relate to the idea of a coup or have lived under military rule. Ghana suffered a series of military interventions in governance from 1966 until 1992.
But since then democracy has been the norm and peaceful elections are now being taken for granted amid a sub-region that has been plagued by significant levels of political instability.
However, the expectation of peaceful polls betrays the intense partisan tensions that precede elections and with the onset of new media, the partisan divide has been deepening further with more aggressive and toxic exchanges that have the tendency to lead supporters astray into eruptions of violence.
Disputes over the electoral roll are now election cycle curtain raisers, as well as accusations of electoral malpractice fired at whichever party is in government.
The electoral roll is never deemed perfect by the opposition party. Credit: Delali Adogla-Bessa / Ubuntu Times
Concerns over voter suppression were rampant during the country’s controversial voter registration exercise after soldiers were deployed to opposition strongholds.
The registration exercise itself was marred by some violent incidents which resulted in death.
Take a step back, however, and while contentious, the electoral process has so far resembled something akin to peaceful.
No matter how heated things get, Ghanaians expect the frontrunners to what they have always done, be magnanimous in defeat and humble victory.
In 2016, when it was clear the election was lost, incumbent President Mahama quickly conceded and begun the peaceful transition process. His supporters followed suit.
Before 2016, Akufo-Addo had contested and lost two elections in photo finishes.
In the 2008 election, between Akufo-Addo and the NDC’s then-candidate John Atta Mills, no candidate received the 50-percent-plus-one of the votes needed to avoid a run-off election.
The run-off was held a few weeks later and the result came down to one constituency where voting was delayed.
There were fears of rigging and claims of electoral fraud which we have seen escalate into sectarian violence in other Africa countries like Kenya and Zimbabwe.
Akufo-Addo eventually lost by less than a percent and conceded despite his misgivings.
It was another close defeat for Akufo-Addo in 2012 after a heavily disputed election. Mahama had taken over from Mills, who died in office, and won with just 50.7 percent of the vote.
Although many international observers called the election free and fair, Akufo-Addo and his cohorts tried to overturn the election result in Ghana’s Supreme Court but the election results were upheld as expected.
Many believe, one of the reasons Akufo-Addo went to the Supreme Court was to calm his supporters who were outraged and ready to go on the rampage because they felt the election had again been stolen from them.
Akufo-Addo played his part in riling up his supporters and was criticized for making incendiary comments like “all die be die” ahead of the 2012 election.
This year Mahama says he will not accept the results of a flawed election and has already deemed the electoral process as such.
But when it is all said and done, we expect the conduct of the candidates to resemble what we have seen in the past. Peace will prevail.
Mahama and Akufo-Addo signed a peace pact on behalf of their respective political parties three days before the polls and were all smiles despite fiery back-and-forths on campaign platforms.
Their supporters will do well to remind themselves that the two parties have never chosen violence.
Across the African continent, an unprecedented wave of youth-led uprisings is shaking the pillars of political regimes that have held power for decades. In...
The trending successful military coups in West Africa today indicate the continuation of political processes and leadership by another method. Their executions have been...
Needless to say, the 2023 elections happened amid overwhelming disillusionment with the system and popular discontent with the major establishment political parties—the ruling All...
The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is arguably the African Union’s (AU) biggest project since the launch of the continent’s Agenda 2063 in...
There are intense political and intellectual debates unfolding in Africa. Since February 24 last year, when war broke out in Europe following Russia’s special...
A packed FNB stadium with over one hundred thousand supporters demonstrated the mass appeal of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) amongst South African voters...
The Organization of African First Ladies for Development (OAFLAD) launched the #WeAreEqual Campaign on Wednesday, August 23, 2023, at a banquet ceremony held in...
An incident involving a thirteen-year-old girl child at the Crowthorne Christian Academy in South Africa led to the schools' closure and the re-sparking of...
To most academics, intellectuals, and pragmatists advocating for a genuine Pan-African renaissance six decades after the founding of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU,...
The Western liberal consensus has long been intervening and interfering in Africa. The first form of intervention was through the slave trade from the...
