• On December 7, 2024, voters in Ghana will head to the polls to elect a new president and 276 legislators, the ninth such election since the West African nation transitioned to democratic rule in January 1993.
  • While the Electoral Commission has qualified 12 candidates to be on the presidential ballot, in reality the election is a race between the candidates of the country’s two rival parties, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP).
  • The December elections are being held against a backdrop of deepening polarisation and a harsh economic environment triggered by the country’s first-ever sovereign debt default. Responsibility for the state of the economy, unemployment and ecocide are among the key issues dominating the campaigns.

A peaceful outcome in Ghana’s December 7 elections is not expected to change the nature or direction of the country’s foreign policy or international relations in any significant way. Although the two parties describe themselves as ideological opposites, the NPP being the conservative, centre-right party and the NDC the social democratic, centre-left party, in substance there is little policy distance between them. Notably, electoral turnover from one party to the other has not produced a discernible shift in the government’s relations with international or relation actors. However, should the December 7 elections go badly, there is a risk that the parties would regionalise or internationalise any ensuing conflict, as each party tries to draw different regional or international interests and actors to its side.


Given the relatively high stakes, Ghana’s regional and international partners must make their best effort to work with the country’s political leaders, state institutions and civil society to assure the integrity of the December 7 elections and their outcome. Beyond the 2024 elections, Ghana must examine the constitutional, legislative and institutional frameworks that govern the country’s politics, elections and electioneering and make appropriate reforms to fix structural gaps and weaknesses. Included in these reforms must be the president’s overweening appointment powers and the unregulated length and conduct of election campaigns, both of which fuel polarisation and keep the country on edge during its quadrennial elections.


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