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The general election on Dec. 7 will be the ninth consecutive election since the country’s return to multi-party democracy in 1992. But allegations of voter roll irregularities this year have created concerns about a possible democratic backslide
Ghana’s biggest opposition party held nationwide protests in regional capitals across the country recently demanding an audit of the voter roll for the general election set for December.
The country’s main opposition party, millions of supporters of the National Democratic Congress participated in the protests. Protests were held in all 16 regional capitals of Ghana, including the capital Accra. They urged the electoral commission to hold free and fair elections. The NDC claims that nearly 300,000 anomalies have been discovered, including illegal transfers of voters’ names and the removal of names from the register without their knowledge.
Ghana has held peaceful, free, fair, and transparent elections for nearly two decades. The general election on Dec. 7 will be the ninth consecutive election since the country’s return to multi-party democracy in 1992. But allegations of voter roll irregularities this year have created concerns about a possible democratic backslide.
The NDC alleges it detected thousands of unauthorized transfers and erasures of voter names on the voter roll for upcoming parliamentary and presidential elections. The electoral commission said the opposition party’s call for a forensic audit was “misguided” during a press conference last week.
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Presidential and parliamentary elections in Ghana are held concurrently every four years. Current President Akufo-Addo is stepping down this year after his second and final four-year term. Former President John Dramani Mahama of the NDC, who lost in the 2016 and 2020 elections will face off with Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia of the New Patriotic Party in this year’s election,
