Polls have closed in presidential and legislative elections in Ghana, which are poised to test the country’s democratic stability in a region shaken by political violence and coups.
Voting opened at 7am local time (07:00 GMT) and closed at 5pm (17:00 GMT) on Saturday, with early results expected on Sunday and the full results of the presidential vote likely by Tuesday.
Heading into Election Day, Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia and former opposition President John Mahama were locked in a close race dominated by concerns about how to tackle a worsening economic crisis.
Both Bawumia and Mahama are from the historically disadvantaged northern part of the country, which is likely to determine the outcome of the election – a departure from previous votes in which people from southern Ghana played a more influential role.
The pair were among 12 candidates vying to succeed President Nana Akufo-Addo, who is stepping down after his legally allowed two terms.
Voters also cast ballots on Saturday to elect the country’s next parliament, with about 18.8 million people registered to vote in a nation of 34 million. Previous turnout in elections has been about 70 percent.
Ghana’s government temporarily closed all land borders from Friday night to Sunday to “ensure the integrity” of the vote, a Ministry of the Interior statement said.Voting was mostly calm, but one person was shot dead and four people arrested at a polling station in Nyankpala in the country’s northern region, police and local media said.
In the historic Jamestown neighbourhood of the capital Accra, Comfort Saaquah Aidoo, a 68-year-old small trader, was among the first in line to cast her ballot.
“I was here at 4:30 because I don’t want to miss voting,” she said after voting. “I want a new government. The old one can’t do the work properly, they promised and failed.”
Joyce Adjadji, a 54-year-old teacher, also said she wanted change as she voted in Afienya, a greater Accra suburb. “The cost of living is really harsh and we can’t cope with it,” she said.
With a history of political stability, Ghana’s two main parties, the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) and main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), have alternated in power almost equally since 1992.
Neither party, however, has ever managed to “break the eight” or win three consecutive presidential terms.NPP hopes their candidate, Bawumia, can lead them to an unprecedented third term in office. But the party has struggled to shake off criticism of President Akufo-Addo’s economic record.
Ghana’s struggling economy emerged as the dominant electoral issue after the West African gold and cacao producer went through a debt default, high inflation and negotiations for a $3bn bailout from the International Monetary Fund.
Bawumia, a United Kingdom-educated economist, has pledged to continue the government’s plans for digitalisation to ease business as well as free education and health programmes.
“I know what I want to do from day one in the presidency. Give me the chance to transform this nation,” he told thousands of supporters at a closing rally in Accra.
Opposition candidate Mahama was president from 2012 to 2017 and has since failed twice in presidential bids.
He said he would “reset” Ghana and introduce a “24-hour economy”, extending industrial hours to create jobs and increase production, and renegotiate parts of the country’s lending programme with the IMF.
The spread of illegal gold mining also became an election issue. Akufo-Addo promised to stop illegal mining, but it has expanded, poisoning rivers and affecting cacao farmlands, a major source of export income.
Ghana also faces an increasing risk of spillover in its northern regions from conflicts in Niger and Burkina Faso, where military governments rule after coups.
Ghana is often considered a model of political stability in a region shaken by coups and insecurity, but its parliament has shown recent signs of unrest.
In 2021, during the inauguration of parliament, soldiers intervened to restore order after an outright brawl between members of the governing NPP and the opposition NDC.