Eighteen million, seven hundred and seventy-four thousand, one hundred and fifty-nine (18,774,159) eligible voters representing about 55 per cent of the nation’s population will cast their ballots today to elect the next President and Members of Parliament.
There are 40,976 polling stations across the country.
The 2024 December 7 polls is the country's ninth general election since multiparty politics was reintroduced in January 1992.
In the last 30 years, the country had a series of closely fought but peaceful polls. Ghana has a reputation for the orderly transfer of power between administrations.
Polling day
Two elections will be taking place simultaneously- the Presidential where 12 candidates are contesting and the parliamentary where eligible voters above 18 years are expected to vote for parliamentary candidates in 276 constituencies across the country to choose their Members of Parliament.
Ghana holds its presidential and parliamentary elections once every four years, following a timetable specified in the nation’s 1992 Constitution. Historically, voter turnout in the nation's elections has been high, with a turnout of 79 per cent recorded in the December 2020 general elections.
To win the presidential election, a candidate must obtain at least a simple majority of the valid votes cast. Where no candidate on the presidential ballot is able to obtain a majority of the votes in the initial round of voting, a run-off election between the two candidates with the highest number of votes must be held within twenty-one days of the first election to decide the winner.
Members of parliament on the other hand are elected on a first-past-the-post basis. Thus, the candidate who obtains the most votes among the contestants on a constituency’s parliamentary ballot wins the seat.
Spots
On the ballot paper the presidential candidates who went through balloting and secured their respective spots appear in this order: 1.The New Patriotic Party's Dr Mahamudu Bawumia;2.Daniel Augustus Lartey Jnr of the Great Consolidated Popular Party; 3. the late Akua Donkor of the Ghana Freedom Party. Her position remains unchanged according to the EC and ballots cast in favour of her will be annulled. The others are 4 Christian Kwabena Andrews of the Ghana Union Movement; 5 Kofi Akpaloo of the Liberal party of Ghana; 6 Mohammed Frimpong of the National Democratic Party;7 Nana Akosua Frimpomaa Kumankuma of the Convention People's Party. The rest are 8 John Dramani Mahama of the National Democratic Congress; 9 Hassan Ayariga of All People's Congress;10 Kofi Koranteng; 11 George Twum-Barima-Adu; 12 Nana Kwame Bediako and 13 Alan Kyerematen as independent candidates.
EC assurances
Meanwhile, the Electoral Commission says the necessary electoral materials have been distributed to the regions.
The materials including stamp pads, stamp print pads, ballot papers, ballot boxes, Digital Versatile Discs(DVDs), projectors, desktop computers, have all been distributed in adequate quantities. Printed sensitive materials, including voters' registers and ballot papers, have all been completed and distributed to the various regional police agencies.
The Chairperson of the EC, Mrs Jean Mensa made this known in Accra last Thursday, at the last in a series of press conferences to update the public on preparations towards peaceful elections.
Mrs Mensa explained that with the exception of the Western and Eastern Regions where it is addressing an incident of defaced ballot papers which poses a major risk to the integrity of the ballots, the EC “does not envisage any shortages anywhere in the country on election day.”
High turn out
The Chairperson further revealed that the EC is expecting a high turn out during the general elections on Saturday just the same way it recorded high turn out during the Special Voting held last Monday and Thursday with the lowest turn out of 83 per cent recorded at some polling stations.
