Ghana President John Mahama asks for second term to consolidate gains

Ongoing “dumsor” – a term in Ghana used to describe electricity shortages – and double-digit inflation are making day-to-day life more hard for Ghanians.

The other parties are the Convention People’s Party (CPP); National Democratic Party (NDP); Progressive People’s Party (PPP); New Patriotic Party (NPP) and People’s National Convention (PNC).

Vice-president under John Atta Mills, the 58-year-old became president when Mr Mills died, before winning the 2012 election by a slender margin.

This year’s election campaign has recorded some pockets of violence between supporters of the two leading candidates in Odododiodio and around the Nima residence of Nana Akufo-Addo in Greater Accra Region; Asutifi South and Asunafo South in Brong Ahafo Region; and Bimbilla, Chereponi and Walewale in the Northern Region.

“I needed to register the strong feeling I have about this country with my thumb and the least I could do was to sacrifice sleep”, said Comfort Laryea, 78, who waited to vote since 4 a.m. (0400 GMT) in the Teshie suburb of the capital. He was popularly elected on December 7, 2012, this is his first term as President (January 7, 2013-January 6, 2017).

Turnout could be as high as 85 percent of the potential 15.7 million voters, Seidu Alidu, an analyst at the department of political sciences at the University of Ghana in Accra, said by phone.

Samuel Marcells, a pastor, said the commission has to hold near-perfect elections to regain his trust.

Ghana is a beacon of democracy in West Africa with a history of peaceful elections.

“We knew where the economy was when we came into power in 2000”. Citizens will choose from among 1144 candidates to elect members of parliament to represent Ghana’s 275 electoral constituencies.

That assurance was a direct response to concerns by some section of Ghanaians who appear to think that even if they cast their votes for the NPP, the governing NDC will rig the polls and so the true will of the people will not prevail.

Ghana goes to the polls for presidential and parliamentary elections tomorrow, 7 December for its seventh multi-party ballot since the end of military rule in 1992.

Mahama insisted, after he voted in Bole, that Ghana would remain a model of freedom.

The Mahama administration has also been hit by major corruption scandals.

Akufo-Addo and his NPP have lambasted the Electoral Commission of Ghana, claiming it is biased in favour of the NDC, setting the stage for potential unrest if the results are very close. “While Ghana’s overall stability is not in danger, if the current government is re-elected there is a notable chance of unrest by the opposition who throughout the election process has complained that it’s not a level playing field”, Walker said.

There will be five other candidates running for president in the election, but they combined are not expected to tally more than a couple of percent of the vote.