Making Democracy Work?: Quasi-Public Entities and the Drama of Elections in Ghana

Asante, Richard

doi:10.20940/jae/2013/v12i2a4

Cited by 4 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…The EC has developed various mechanisms for ensuring smooth administration of elections, consensus-building on electoral issues, managing distrust and improving transparency in its activities over the years. Perhaps the most important mechanism in this regard has been the innovative Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) (Asante 2013;Frempong 2012). As an informal and non-statutory body created in 1994 by the EC, IPAC is a forum where representatives of all political parties and the EC exchange information and discuss programmes and activities of the EC (Asante 2013).…”

Section: The Ec and Obligations Of Presiding Officersmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Perhaps the most important mechanism in this regard has been the innovative Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) (Asante 2013;Frempong 2012). As an informal and non-statutory body created in 1994 by the EC, IPAC is a forum where representatives of all political parties and the EC exchange information and discuss programmes and activities of the EC (Asante 2013). Through engagements with IPAC the EC successfully introduced several electoral reforms to Ghana's political landscape.…”

Section: The Ec and Obligations Of Presiding Officersmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…I share the opinion of Asante (2013) that issues relating to voting without biometric verification, different pink sheets with same serial numbers but different results, and polling stations bearing the same codes but different results could have been addressed had the EC been transparent with political parties at the Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC). Parties could have reached an agreement on what could be done in situations of major failure of verification machines; they would have been made aware that serial numbers are not a security feature of declaration forms but are purely for production purposes; and that some polling stations would have two sets of results bearing the same codes because of 'special voting' organised for security personnel in those stations before the 7-8 December polls.…”

Section: The Npp's Election Petitionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Accountability, Contract Officers and the Integrity of the 2012 Election Outcome in Ghana

Alhassan¹

2016

JAE

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The Electoral Commission of Ghana (EC) has successfully managed five out of the six elections since the adoption of Ghana's 1992 Republican Constitution, which gave legal status to the country's democratisation process despite some administrative lapses over the years. The 2012 presidential election, however, served as a credibility test for the EC. In this paper my main objective is to analyse critically the Ghana 2012 election petition as an expression of mistrust in, and dissatisfaction with, the EC's performance. I argue that, at least in the case of Ghana, the success of an electoral process is largely a function of the human factor, not necessarily the legal frameworks and regulations in force. Using the theory of accountability, I analyse the role of temporary election officers in eroding public confidence in electoral processes. I also draw attention to some implications of Ghana's Supreme Court judgment on election administration in future. My recommendations include punishment for officers whose negligence causes avoidable political tensions, to demonstrate the state's determination to demand accountability from election officers on behalf of citizens. To support this argument, my study uses thematic content analysis of the petitioners' court affidavit, the court's judgment and legal opinions proffered through media outlets.

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Section: The Ec and Obligations Of Presiding Officersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Ec and Obligations Of Presiding Officersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Npp's Election Petitionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Accountability, Contract Officers and the Integrity of the 2012 Election Outcome in Ghana

Alhassan¹

2016

JAE

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“…By-election conflicts undermine trust in the electoral process. A key factor for the peaceful conduct of elections in Ghana in the past twenty-eight years has been the willingness of the parties to build consensus on the electoral rules and conduct of elections under the auspices of the Inter-Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) (Ayee, 1998;Asante, 2013). Byelection violence negatively affects inter-party relations and cooperation.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Explaining Political Party Vigilantism and Violence in Parliamentary by-Elections in Ghana

Asante

Gyampo²

2021

jap

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Electoral violence often perpetrated by political party vigilante groups in Ghana has been a major setback to Ghana’s drive towards democratic maturity. In particular, acts and incidence of violence have been alarming during parliamentary by-elections at the constituency level, which have often led to major casualties like deaths, injuries, destruction of property, inter-party conflicts, as well as social and communal tensions. Yet, very little attention has been given to electoral violence and vigilantism during parliamentary bye-elections. This study fills this gap by drawing on interviews, general observations, and archival sources to examine the causative factors for the persistence of parliamentary by-election violence, at the constituency level. The central questions addressed in the paper are: what is the motivation for the involvement of political party vigilante groups in parliamentary by-elections and associated conflicts?; what strategies do political parties use to mobilize vigilante groups during parliamentary bye-elections; and what are the implications of parliamentary by-election conflicts for inter-party and communal relations, at the constituency level? The study concludes on the note that, the stakes are often high in the conduct of bye-elections, as the whole concentration of the nation is deployed to small constituencies where such elections are held, culminating in a more pronounced activities of vigilante groups in such communities, during by-elections. It finally raises the question with regards to how to manage the rising incidence of vigilante group activities in the conduct of bye-elections, and suggests this, as being the focus of any future research activity on political vigilantism in Ghana.

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Infrastructural state capacity for democratization? Voter registration and identification in Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana compared

Piccolino

2015

Democratization

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snfrstruturl stte pity for demortiztionc oter registrtion nd identifition in g¢ ote d9svoire nd qhn ompred his item ws sumitted to voughorough niversity9s snstitutionl epository y theGn uthorF Citation: sggyvsxyD qFD PHITF snfrstruturl stte pity for demoE rtiztionc oter registrtion nd identifition in g¢ ote d9svoire nd qhn ompredF hemortiztionD PQ@QAD ppF RWVESIWF Additional Information:• his is n eepted wnusript of n rtile pulished y ylor 8 prnis in hemortiztion on PQrd pe PHISD ville onlineX httpXGGdxFdoiForgGIHFIHVHGIQSIHQRUFPHIRFWVQWHT GermanyA large portion of electoral irregularities in developing countries stem from administrative deficiencies, rather than deliberate fraud. This is particularly evident when it comes to voter registration and identification: the quality of a voter list depends from the existence of effective mechanisms to register and identify citizens and electors, which might not be easily at hand in many developing countries. Democratization in these countries has been accompanied by intense polemics about the quality of the voter rolls and the identification of electors, which have threatened democratic consolidation. Biometrics technology has been recently heralded as a possible solution, but its effective potential is disputable. In order to understand how problems with registering and identifying voters have affected democratization, this paper reviews the contrasting experiences of Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana. In Côte d'Ivoire, the problem of the reliability of the voter register has been entangled since the '90s with the politicization of the citizenship question. As a consequence, compiling an acceptable voter register has proven extremely difficult and cumbersome. In Ghana, an effective electoral administration has been key to overcome the mistrust of the political parties about the fairness of the voter process.

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Making Democracy Work?: Quasi-Public Entities and the Drama of Elections in Ghana

Abstract: Since Ghana made the transition to multiparty democracy in the early

Cited by 4 publications

References 22 publications

Accountability, Contract Officers and the Integrity of the 2012 Election Outcome in Ghana

Accountability, Contract Officers and the Integrity of the 2012 Election Outcome in Ghana

Explaining Political Party Vigilantism and Violence in Parliamentary by-Elections in Ghana

Infrastructural state capacity for democratization? Voter registration and identification in Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana compared

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