Ghana’s electoral system has the following basic characteristics: 

• universal adult suffrage for citizens who are 18  years or older (it used to be 21 years up to the advent of the Second Republic); 
• official registration of voters);
• non-compulsory registration or voting;
• secret ballot; 
• registration of political parties;
• political parties are not allowed to sponsor candidates for elections to District Assemblies and lower  local government units;
• presidential election where the winner requires more than 50% of  the valid votes cast;
• parliamentary and local elections on the basis of the first-past –the  post;
• a run-off election in case no winner emerges on the first ballot;
• no minimum voter turn –out required for presidential/parliamentary elections; and
• a permanent electoral commission.

THE ELECTORAL COMMISSION

 The Electoral Commission is a body established by the 1992 Constitution and charged with the responsibility of organising elections.  It is made up of 7 members – a chairman, 2 deputy chairmen and 4 other members all of whom are appointed by the President of the Republic on the advice of the Council of State, a body of eminent citizens established by the Constitutions.  The Commission has regulatory and administrative functions and meets regularly to make policy, which is then executed on a day-to-day basis by the three chair persons.
 

THE COMMISSIONERS

The current membership of the Commission, which was inaugurated in July, 1993, is as follows;

DR. KWADWO AFARI-GYAN, Charman.  A former university teacher of political science, he received his B. A.  and M. A. degrees from the University of Ghana, Legon, and his doctorate degree from the University of California  at Santa Barbara. He was a deputy chairman of the Interim National Electoral Commission (INEC), which conducted the 1992  referendum on the draft constitution and the subsequent presidential and parliamentary elections. Before  then, he served as a member of the Constitution.