Ghana
Ghana is a West African beacon for democracy
Ghana is known as a democratic beacon in West Africa. But, representation, inclusivity and pluralism are challenged by a deadlocked political environment at the national level with the two largest parties, New Patriotic Party (NPP) and National Democratic Congress (NDC) dominating elections.
Ghana held a peaceful election in 2020. Prior to the election, there were concerns of violence and that the electoral process would be undermined bypolitical vigilante groups affiliated with either NPP or NDC. This concern was put to shame. This was largely due to large-scale peace building efforts by civil society as well as religious and traditional leaders.
Incumbent President Akufo-Addo from NPP won the election. However, Ghana made history as no political party gained majority in parliament. The two major parties won 137 parliamentary seats each. In addition to this, one independent candidate was elected.
Read more about the previous partnerships on the partnership pages below.
Population: 33,846,114
Liberal Democracy Index: 0.54.*
[LDI encaptures both electoral and liberal aspects of democracy]
Proportions of Seats held by Women in Parlament: 14.5%**
Proportions of Seats held by Youth under 30 in Parlament: 0.73%**
*V-Dem Institute 2023
**IPU.org 2023
