Electoral administration

The parliament of Ghana has 230 members, elected for a four-year term in single-seat constituencies by universal suffrage and a first-past-the-post system. As the incumbent president has reached his two-term limit he will not be standing for election for presidential office and his party has selected an alternative candidate. Periodic elections have taken place since the restoration of democracy in Ghana in 1992 and these will be the fourth competitive general elections to take place since 1996.

The Election Commission was established by the Electoral Commission Act of 1993 according to the provisions of the 1992 constitution. Its function is to manage the conduct of all public elections and to supervise all areas directly relating to the conduct of elections in Ghana. The Election Commission has regulatory and administrative powers at its disposal. A Commission of Commissioners of up to seven members including a chairman, two deputy chairmen and four other members oversees all of the activities of the Election Commission.

The Election Commission is organised into two main divisions, Operations and Finance and Administration. At the pinnacle of the decision making structure are the Chairman of the Commissioners and the Commissioners. Under the direction of a Deputy Chairman for Finance and Administration two Directors who are responsible for accounts, transport and personnel manage the Finance and Administration department. The Operations department undertakes a wider range of activities including IT and data control, voter registration, public affairs and education, research, evaluation and training. Five Directors are responsible for the different departments and in turn they work under the Deputy Chairman for Operations. The regional directors and district officers also come under the umbrella of the operations department. The Election Commission also has offices in all 10 regional capitals.

Article 46 of the 1992 constitution provides that “in the performance of its functions, the Election Commission shall not be subject to the control or direction of any authority” except as provided for in the constitution. In addition to supervising and organising elections the Election Commission also has responsibility to A) Issue identity cards to voters B) Educate voters on the electoral process and its purpose C) Design and undertake programmes which will lead to the expansion of voter registration D) Ensure the safety of all election materials E) Perform such other functions as may be prescribed by law (Election Commission, 2008).

For each parliamentary constituency a returning officer is appointed by the District Electoral Officer of the Election Commission. Presiding officers are also appointed by the Election Commission to supervise the polling at individual polling stations. Whilst the returning officers are responsible, under the direction of the District Electoral Officers, for the single member constituency based parliamentary elections; the Chairman of the Election Commission is charged with acting as the returning officer for the presidential elections.

Polling will take place for parliamentary and presidential elections on 7 December 2008 between the hours of 07:00 and 17:00 in nearly 22,000 polling stations in the 230 constituencies across the country. Voters will cast ballots for parliamentary elections in single member constituencies and for presidential candidates on the basis of one single nationwide constituency. If none of the presidential candidates receive the required minimum of more than 50 per cent then a second round presidential election will be scheduled between the two candidates who received the highest number of votes in the first round within 21 days pursuant to the provisions of the constitution.