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Less than 5 percent of Ghanaians nominated Mahama and Akufo-Addo
The two leading candidates in December's elections were chosen by less than two million Ghanaians. It is time to rethink the current primaries system that selects them?
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The two leading candidates for president (out of seven) are the incumbent John Dramani Mahama, who is running for a second and final term, and Nana Akufo-Addo who is running for a third and possibly final time after two failed attempts.
But are these two candidates the best Ghana can offer for citizens to choose from? Pulse Ghana has been looking at the numbers involved in selecting these two as candidates.
NPP selection process
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Seven aspirants put their names forward and this was whittled down to five by a special delegates congress of 781 delegates in August. Two of the five candidates then dropped out leaving three aspirants.
In October 2014, the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), held a primary election to choose its flagbearer. Nana Akufo-Addo won that by 117, 413 representing 94 percent of the delegates choice.
NDC selection process
John Mahama had a fairly easy ride getting the nomination of his party. After the party clandestinely eliminated his only challenger, George Boateng, the president only needed to be endorsed by 50 percent (plus one vote) of National Democratic Congress (NDC) members.
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He got that endorsement overwhelmingly by winning 1,199,118 votes representing 95 percent of valid votes, in a one member, one vote system.
Conclusion
Admittedly, both candidates got emphatic endorsements to their candidature with percentages well into the nineties. But collectively, the delegates of the two parties are 1,316,531; less than two million people. This represents only 4.7 percent of the total population of Ghana; which was announced to be 28 million in 2015 by the Ghana Statistical Service.
But if that figure is pitched against the voting population of 15.7 million, then only 8.3 percent selected these two candidates.
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In effect, less than 10 percent of Ghanaians actually chose these two; one of who would be the president for the next four years. Ghana’s de facto two party system means that chances of candidates outside the NPP and NDC winning the presidency remain fanciful.
Is it time to rethink the selection process of presidential candidates in Ghana?
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