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 total outcomes of the presidential vote doubtless by Tuesday.
Heading into Election Day, Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia and former opposition President John Mahama have been locked in a detailed race dominated by considerations about how you can deal with 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 result of the election – a departure from earlier votes during which individuals from southern Ghana performed a extra influential position.
The pair have been amongst 12 candidates vying to succeed President Nana Akufo-Addo, who’s stepping down after his legally allowed two phrases.
Voters additionally solid 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 %.
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 largely calm, however one individual was shot useless 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 solid 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 need a new authorities. The previous one can’t do the work correctly, they promised and failed.”
Joyce Adjadji, a 54-year-old instructor, additionally stated she needed change as she voted in Afienya, a higher Accra suburb. “The price of residing is basically harsh and we are able to’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 have been on queue when voting began. Inside an hour and a half, every thing went quiet,” Idris stated, including that voter apathy is probably going taking part in a job.
Governing get together pushes for third presidential time period
With a historical past of political stability, Ghana’s two important events, the governing New Patriotic Celebration (NPP) and important opposition Nationwide Democratic Congress (NDC), have alternated in energy nearly equally since 1992.
Neither get together, nonetheless, has ever managed to “break the eight” or win three consecutive presidential phrases.
NPP hopes their candidate, Bawumia, can cause them to an unprecedented third time period in workplace. However the get together has struggled to shake off criticism of President Akufo-Addo’s financial file.
Ghana’s struggling economy emerged because the dominant electoral situation after the West African gold and cacao producer went via 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 prospect to remodel this nation,” he informed 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 economic system”, extending industrial hours to create jobs and enhance manufacturing, and renegotiate components of the nation’s lending programme with the IMF.
The unfold of unlawful gold mining additionally grew to become an election situation. Akufo-Addo promised to cease unlawful mining, nevertheless it has expanded, poisoning rivers and affecting cacao farmlands, a significant 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 usually 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.
