Ghana in ‘slight risk’ of political destabilization on election petition – AEO
Ghana might suffer the risk of political destabilization due to the ongoing election petition filed by the opposition party over the 2012 December polls results, a new report seems to suggest.
On December 9, 2012, the Electoral Commission declared John Mahama of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) as the winner of the presidential election with 5,574,761 votes representing 50.70% while Nana Akufo-Addo of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) received 5, 248,898 votes which was 47.74%.
Despite some technical glitches in the new biometric registration system, international observers considered the elections to have been relatively free and fair.
The NPP, however, alleged that over one million votes were wrongly counted and went on to petition the Supreme Court for redress.
Released May 27, 2013, the 2013 African Economic Outlook (AEO) of the African Development Bank (AfDB) stated that the election petition at the Supreme Court has “divided the country on political lines rather than ethnic lines”.
The report mentioned that due to the matter, there is a slight risk of political destabilisation of the country but that [risk] will be reduced if the Supreme Court settles the matter early.
“The slight risk of political destabilisation of the country would be greatly reduced by an early resolution to the court case,” said the AEO which was launched on the sidelines of the ongoing 2013 AfDB Annual Meetings in Marrakech, Morocco.
The 2012 general election was Ghana’s sixth since 1992, and voter turnout was high at 80.15%.
The report also noted that Ghana’s macroeconomic governance and structural reforms suffer from political budget cycles. It said the 1996, 2000 and 2008 elections were noted for high unplanned expenditures by governing parties to renew their mandate, which put fiscal consolidation at risk. This, according to the AEO, has led to the expectation of an election cycle impact on the economy, requiring an adjustment in the years preceding an election in order to maintain macroeconomic stability.
By Ekow Quandzie in Marrakech, Morocco