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Ghana Parliamentary Elections
The PNDC indicated that it intended to proceed with
parliamentary elections with or without the opposition parties. In
a gesture to its opponents, however, the PNDC extended the deadline
for all parties to register independent candidates, but opposition
party officials threatened to deal severely with any party member
who ran as an independent candidate. Amid sporadic political
violence--some of it linked to the opposition, arrests of members
of opposition groups by state security officers, and accusations of
PNDC intimidation and harassment by the four opposition parties
boycotting the elections, parliamentary elections were held on
December 29, 1992, without participation of the opposition parties.
Ironically, in boycotting the parliamentary elections, the
opposition offered the PNDC the continuity it had been vigorously
campaigning for and undermined any possibility of multiparty
parliamentary democracy in the first term of the Fourth Republic.
At the close of nominations for the elections on December 1, the
NDC was unopposed in fifteen of the 200 constituencies. Only five
candidates from the four main opposition parties had registered.
According to the Interim National Electoral Commission, of the 7.3
million registered voters, more than 2 million voted on election
day. The supporters of the four opposition parties stayed away, as
did many NDC supporters, who felt that an NDC landslide victory was
a foregone conclusion. The number of registered voters excluded
twenty-three constituencies where the candidates were elected
unopposed, so that the turnout represented 29 percent of voters in
177 constituencies. The NDC swept the board, winning 189 of the 200
parliamentary seats, including the twenty-three who were elected
unopposed. Two other parties allied with the NDC in what was called
the Progressive Alliance--the National Convention Party and the
Every Ghanaian Living Everywhere Party--won eight seats and one
seat, respectively. The remaining two seats were captured by two
independent women candidates, part of a group of sixteen women
elected to parliament, the largest number ever in Ghana.
In the presidential election, almost 4 million out of nearly
8.3 million registered voters had cast their votes in all 200
constituencies combined, for a turnout of 48 percent. The total
votes cast in the parliamentary elections represented 51.5 percent
of the votes cast in the presidential election. The opposition
parties were quick to ascribe the low turnout to the effectiveness
of their boycott. But the low turnout was also explained in part by
the absence of real issues and the fact that many people chose to
stay at home to enjoy their Christmas holidays.
Rawlings and the NDC won the elections because the opposition
was divided for the most part and failed to present a credible
alternative to the PNDC. The programs on which the opposition
campaigned did not differ substantially from those the PNDC had
been implementing since 1983. The opposition parties, for example,
advocated a free enterprise economy, political decentralization,
rural development, and liberal democracy, measures already on the
PNDC agenda.
When internal and external pressures in line with political
reforms occurring elsewhere on the continent persuaded Rawlings to
return to multiparty democracy at the national level, he could do
so without taint of corruption. Despite a record flawed by
widespread human rights abuses in the early years of the
Revolution, he had demonstrated genuine concern for the well-being
of the people of Ghana.
Rawlings also won because, as head of state for more than a
decade, his name had become a household word, and he was able to
exploit the advantages of incumbency. He had won favor with a wide
range of interest groups, influential chiefs, and local leaders.
Rawlings had behind him a well-established nationwide network of
CDRs, the 31st December Women's Movement, other so-called
revolutionary organs, and dedicated district secretaries and chiefs
for the propagation of his message. All these bodies and groups had
been active long before the fractious political parties, the rival
leaders of which were hardly known beyond the major cities, had
struggled into existence. Finally, Rawlings won because of
widespread belief in his personal sincerity and integrity.
Data as of November 1994
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