Situation Report: Ghana's 2008 election: towards a consolidated democracy? David Zounmenou

Ghana’s 2008 general elections ushered in the country’s second peaceful change of government since its return to multi-partyism in 1992. This happened against a background of generalised anxiety and distrust about electoral processes in Africa, where elections have often been depicted as sources of tension and threats to national stability. In Ghana’s case, instead of providing evidence for further pessimism about democratisation, the country’s electoral monitoring bodies and political actors delivered a widely accepted and credible electoral process that helps Ghana to strengthen its progress towards democratic consolidation and socioeconomic development. The defeat of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the peaceful transfer of power to the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the erstwhile leader of the opposition offer a number of lessons for countries struggling to hold transparent and violence-free elections in Africa, or leaders locked into elitist power-sharing arrangements. There remain numerous challenges requiring the new leadership’s continuous attention, and certain flaws observed during the elections require effective corrective measures. Notwithstanding the challenges the country faces, however, peaceful power alternation in Ghana may be explained by three principal factors: President John Kufuor’s decision to uphold the constitutional terms limit; the respect shown by social and political actors to the democratic consensus; and, above all, an efficient national electoral machinery.