Polls have closed in presidential and legislative elections in Ghana, that are poised to check the nation’s democratic stability in a area shaken by political violence and coups.
Voting opened at 7am native time (07:00 GMT) and closed at 5pm (17:00 GMT) on Saturday, with early outcomes anticipated on Sunday and the complete outcomes of the presidential vote seemingly by Tuesday.
Heading into Election Day, Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia and former opposition President John Mahama had been locked in an in depth race dominated by considerations about tips on how to sort out a worsening financial disaster.
Each Bawumia and Mahama are from the traditionally deprived northern a part of the nation, which is more likely to decide the end result of the election – a departure from earlier votes through which individuals from southern Ghana performed a extra influential function.
The pair had been amongst 12 candidates vying to succeed President Nana Akufo-Addo, who’s stepping down after his legally allowed two phrases.
Voters additionally forged ballots on Saturday to elect the nation’s subsequent parliament, with about 18.8 million individuals registered to vote in a nation of 34 million. Earlier turnout in elections has been about 70 p.c.
Ghana’s authorities briefly closed all land borders from Friday evening to Sunday to “make sure the integrity” of the vote, a Ministry of the Inside assertion stated.
Voting was principally calm, however one individual was shot lifeless and 4 individuals arrested at a polling station in Nyankpala within the nation’s northern area, police and native media stated.
Within the historic Jamestown neighbourhood of the capital Accra, Consolation Saaquah Aidoo, a 68-year-old small dealer, was among the many first in line to forged her poll.
“I used to be right here at 4:30 as a result of I don’t need to miss voting,” she stated after voting. “I desire a new authorities. The previous one can’t do the work correctly, they promised and failed.”
Joyce Adjadji, a 54-year-old trainer, additionally stated she wished change as she voted in Afienya, a better Accra suburb. “The price of dwelling is actually harsh and we will’t deal with it,” she stated.
Reporting from a polling station in Accra round noon on Saturday, Al Jazeera’s Ahmed Idris stated turnout was low throughout the capital.
“We earlier on went to a different polling station … and there, what we noticed [was] solely 18 to twenty individuals who had been on queue when voting began. Inside an hour and a half, every little thing went quiet,” Idris stated, including that voter apathy is probably going enjoying a job.
Governing occasion pushes for third presidential time period
With a historical past of political stability, Ghana’s two primary events, the governing New Patriotic Celebration (NPP) and primary opposition Nationwide Democratic Congress (NDC), have alternated in energy virtually equally since 1992.
Neither occasion, nonetheless, has ever managed to “break the eight” or win three consecutive presidential phrases.
NPP hopes their candidate, Bawumia, can make them an unprecedented third time period in workplace. However the occasion has struggled to shake off criticism of President Akufo-Addo’s financial document.
Ghana’s struggling economy emerged because the dominant electoral situation after the West African gold and cacao producer went by means of a debt default, excessive inflation and negotiations for a $3bn bailout from the Worldwide Financial Fund.
Bawumia, a United Kingdom-educated economist, has pledged to proceed the federal government’s plans for digitalisation to ease enterprise in addition to free training and well being programmes.
“I do know what I need to do from day one within the presidency. Give me the possibility to remodel this nation,” he instructed hundreds of supporters at a closing rally in Accra.
Opposition candidate Mahama was president from 2012 to 2017 and has since failed twice in presidential bids.
He stated he would “reset” Ghana and introduce a “24-hour financial system”, extending industrial hours to create jobs and improve manufacturing, and renegotiate components of the nation’s lending programme with the IMF.
The unfold of unlawful gold mining additionally turned an election situation. Akufo-Addo promised to cease unlawful mining, nevertheless it has expanded, poisoning rivers and affecting cacao farmlands, a serious supply of export revenue.
Ghana additionally faces an growing danger of spillover in its northern areas from conflicts in Niger and Burkina Faso, the place navy governments rule after coups.
Ghana is commonly thought of a mannequin of political stability in a area shaken by coups and insecurity, however its parliament has proven latest indicators of unrest.
In 2021, in the course of the inauguration of parliament, troopers intervened to revive order after an outright brawl between members of the governing NPP and the opposition NDC.