Elections Ghana Style
1Monday, 17 December 2012 by Renee
Along with all the other excitement that goes with relocating to a new country, we've had double the excitement with the lead up to presidential and parliamentary elections. Ghana went to the polls last week and we've enjoyed the uniquely Ghanaian style of campaigning...
Although Ghana was the first West African country to gain independence in 1957, the path to democracy has been a long and rough one with plenty of authoritarian rule and coup d'etats. Perhaps it's not suprising then that Ghanaians follow politics the way they follow football (ie loudly and passionately!).
The Wednesday before election day, our group got stuck in traffic for 3.5 hours after ending up on the wrong side of a New Patriotic Party (NPP) rally. Sadly I wasn't quick enough to take a picture of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) campaigners wandering around in suits on stilts in 35 degree heat the day before, but trust me, it happened!
The last elections in 2008 were heralded as a test of democracy in Ghana and while it was more or less peaceful, there were clashes in some villages. But everyone was confident that this year's would remain calm and peace has been the word on everyone's lips and billboards...
Polling day took place last Friday and in the morning we ventured out to our nearest polling booths to suss out what was happening. Although there were some incidents in Accra, things seemed to be running pretty smoothly near us...
We ran into our lovely neighbour/sister who shares my Ghanaian name Akua
(prounced akwee-a...Ghanaians are named after the day of the week they were born, and we are both Wednesdays!) Akua is in the left of the picture...
Akua and her friends gave us a solid run down of happenings and like many other Ghanaians, had settled in nearby for the day to watch polling take place and count the votes at the end. When voting is completed and ballot papers have been sorted, the whole neighbourhood gathers around and counts the ballot papers together!
This year Ghana was using biometric registration machines for the first time and unfortunately some failed, which meant polling had to continue the following day. In the end it was a tight match with NDC beating NPP by around 30-50 000 votes. However, just to keep things interesting, NPP is now challenging the results with claims of fraud at some polling booths, but it sounds like even if their claims are true it will not win them enough votes to change the result.
Although Ghana was the first West African country to gain independence in 1957, the path to democracy has been a long and rough one with plenty of authoritarian rule and coup d'etats. Perhaps it's not suprising then that Ghanaians follow politics the way they follow football (ie loudly and passionately!).
We ran into our lovely neighbour/sister who shares my Ghanaian name Akua
(prounced akwee-a...Ghanaians are named after the day of the week they were born, and we are both Wednesdays!) Akua is in the left of the picture...
Akua and her friends gave us a solid run down of happenings and like many other Ghanaians, had settled in nearby for the day to watch polling take place and count the votes at the end. When voting is completed and ballot papers have been sorted, the whole neighbourhood gathers around and counts the ballot papers together!
This year Ghana was using biometric registration machines for the first time and unfortunately some failed, which meant polling had to continue the following day. In the end it was a tight match with NDC beating NPP by around 30-50 000 votes. However, just to keep things interesting, NPP is now challenging the results with claims of fraud at some polling booths, but it sounds like even if their claims are true it will not win them enough votes to change the result.
Great blog Renee! Blogging is not one-way at all...people can strike up interesting conversations about your blog both online and offline; most of the time it happens without the blogger's knowledge! Your election coverage is awesome, do write more about your experience in Ghana. Enjoy your Christmas trip!
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