This past week, Ghana, one of Africa's leading democracies, had its presidential election. The incumbent, John Mahama, became president when the country's previous president, John Atta Mills (there are a lot of Johns in Ghana), died in July. Mahama was Vice President and stepped into power then.
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| President John Mahama |
The elections were ruled to be free and fair, but the opposition party of challenger Nana Akufo-Addo, the New Patriotic Party, released a statement on Sunday claiming that the ruling party had rigged the elections. Protests go on in Ghana, but most international groups are encouraging the NPP to accept the result. Akufo-Addo also ran in 2008 but lost by a single percentage point. This year's electoral commission has him at 47.74% of the vote with Mahama at 50.7%.
Random Kate Thoughts: It is eerie how often this happens on the continent. Just last month in Sierra Leone, and in scores of countries before, the incumbent wins and the opposition protests and claims rigging. Is the American voting process so trusted that we happily (or un-happily) go on our merry ways the second week of November without protest? Ok, aside from that unfortunate "hanging chad" incident a while back, our votes tend to be pretty clean. Part of living in a 200-year-old democracy? Perhaps. Ghana is the oldest democracy on the continent and it's just been a republic for a wee 52 years.
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