Ghana’s National Patriotic Party to release manifesto

Ghana’s ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) will today disclose its manifesto for the upcoming December 7 general elections.

The election will pit former president John Mahama of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) against NPP incumbent Nana Akufo-Addo, and is expected to have significant ramifications for the trajectory of Ghanaian democracy.

Following independence in 1957, Ghana faced chronic political volatility and endured countless coup d’états, until the 1992 constitutional referendum reintroduced multi-party politics and ushered in electoral democracy. Despite substantial democratisation since, there is growing concern that Akufo-Addo is eroding the rule of law in the lead-up to the December elections in an effort to consolidate power, prompting Mahama to claim that the president had set progress back by 28 years. Police forces recently raided the offices of the opposition-affiliated Radio XYZ, leading to concerns over freedom of the press. The Akufo-Addo regime has likewise decreed that voters must re-register to vote despite COVID-19 restrictions on movement, while the military has been accused of stifling the registration of minorities and voters from NDC strongholds.

Expect the election to be hard-fought as Akufo-Addo’s increasingly authoritarian tendencies test Ghana’s relative political stability. In a region afflicted by political volatility and a worrying deterioration in security, a solidification of single-party rule could further strain regional stability at a time when five other West African states are also slated to hold elections.

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