Revisiting the 2012 Presidential Elections

Revisiting the 2012 Presidential Elections: A Forward-Looking Perspective





Part1: Why the 2012 Election Controversy and How We Can Fix It?

The re-introduction of multi-party democracy has brought a promise of peace and a new era of good governance to all Ghanaians. The 2012 presidential and parliamentary elections marked Ghana’s sixth successful election and would have been its third power alternation since the 1992 democratic transition if the NPP’s presidential candidate had been declared winner by the Electoral Commission (EC). The elections are over and all the hype and anticipation have died down, yet we still live in the shadows of uncertainty due to the alleged electoral fraud that occurred during the vote counting/tallying process. While the introduction of the biometric electronic system to identify/verify voters’ was a major feat in the country’s effort to improve its election administration, the controversy surrounding the vote counting process is nothing to brag about. Regrettably, 20 years after Ghana’s political transition and despite its recognition by the international community as a consolidated democracy in Africa, the country still faces major electoral challenges, as some parties do not play by the rules. Considering the extent of hardship in the country today, and the retrogression in Ghana’s economy and its development trends in the last 4 years, I believe most Ghanaians desired a change in the country’s political leadership. However, if according to the EC, this sentiment purportedly did not reflect in the election outcomes, we should all take precautionary measures in our actions in order not to allow the country degenerate into a chaotic environment.



The Need for EC’s Objectivity, Transparency and Fairness

Looking at the events of the 2012 elections in retrospect, it is justifiable to argue that the EC must be faulted for its actions or inactions, which sparked the on-going election crisis in the country. As the country’s independent electoral body, the EC is not only required to be circumspect, objective and independent in carrying out its functions, but also abide by the principles of professionalism and high ethical standards for transparency, peace and fairness to prevail in every election. Nothing should be more rewarding for the EC than organizing free and fair elections, which is acceptable to all the competing political parties to continue the political stability the country has enjoyed in the past 20 years. On the contrary, the EC and its chairman did not handle the situation objectively and professionally to say the least. Since there is no deadline for announcing the election results or no reason to rush to announce the outcome of the elections, and in order to promote peace, free and fairness in the electoral process, it would have been helpful if the Chairman of the EC had delayed declaring the elections and investigated the fraud case to “settle the dust” once and for all before announcing the winner, rather unfortunately, he did not. To “add insult to injury”, speaking on the BBC’s News Day, Dr. Afari Gyan stated emphatically that “NPP can go to court, electoral fraud allegations are false”. For the head of the country’s independent electoral body to come out openly and make such a biased statement without taking any precaution to assure Ghanaians and his international audience of his preparedness at least to look into the electoral fraud allegations for the sake of fairness and transparency is rather unprofessional, unfortunate and disappointing. In trying to solve the 2012 election puzzle, it is apparent that there are more questions than answers. For example, if the country could wait one month for a presidential re-run, why couldn’t the EC wait a few days or weeks to investigate the NPP’s alleged electoral fraud claim? .” Was there really a pre-election conspiracy machinery by the EC to aid the NDC to rig the 2012 elections, and should this statement be judged as a confirmation that the EC deliberately massaged the election results in favour of the NDC or was it intended to prevent any post-election disturbance? Why Dr. Afari Gyan was so upbeat about declaring the National Democratic Congress’ (NDC) presidential candidate (President John Mahama) the winner of the 2012 elections without waiting for a few days or weeks to investigate the alleged electoral fraud is questionable. For failing to postpone the announcement of the winner of the presidential election till after ascertaining all the facts of the case justifies the EC’s critics’ claim that its actions or inactions in the administration of the 2012 elections confirms apparent complicity and bias in favour of the NDC. I believe “it’s better to measure something ten times and cut it once and get it right, than to measure it once and cut it ten times and get it wrong nine times.” While we wait patiently for the evidence in the case to surface, there still remain doubts about the circumstances surrounding the rushed creation of new constituencies within a few months to election makes the whole situation questionable and suspicious. While the concerns raised against the EC’s actions and/or inactions make its objectivity and neutrality in the 2012 election doubtful, the allegation of fraud and conspiracy is up to the NPP to prove in court for the judges to decide. No matter what the outcome of the case, the most important lessons of the 2012 elections should set the tone for more effective ways of undertaking further electoral reforms in Ghana. We all remember what happened in the Bush vs. Gore contest in the United States’ 2000 presidential election. When there was disagreement over the voting and ballot counting processes, the Election Commission and the candidates patiently waited till the Supreme Court decided who got majority of the Electoral College votes, and won the presidential election, and after that decision, Al Gore willingly gave up his claim to the presidency. That’s democracy at its best and what democracy is all about – transparency and fairness. Since that infamous 2000 election, there have been various reforms in the US’ electoral system.



Justification for Pursuing a Legal Case in the Supreme Court

Given the current situation and all the conspiracy theories circulating from various constituencies across the country, the argument for NPP’s motivation to pursue a legal case in the courts to establish the truth is justifiable and plausible. If the party’s evidence is proven credible, the NPP would be vindicated for its allegations, the culprits could be punished for breaking the law, and justice would be served accordingly. More importantly, a repeat of what allegedly happened in the 2012 elections could be checked and avoided in future elections by pressuring the EC to implement reforms in its election reporting and tallying processes. While it is prudent to pursue the case at the legal front, the party leaders must exercise a great deal of restrain not in order not to encourage their members to engage in violent acts or lawlessness to incur the displeasure of Ghanaian voters, especially independent and swing voters who may be watching the current post-election crisis very closely to see how the NPP behaves. Any act of lawlessness could tarnish the party’s image and have devastating consequences on the country’s peaceful and long-standing democratic credentials. Nonetheless, I envisage or speculate three possible scenarios in the outcome of the court case in the Supreme Court’s decision. First, if the court finds the NPP’s evidence credible, the court could declare the EC’s action in declaring the election unconstitutional and nullify the presidential election for a new presidential election to be organized by the EC. Second, the court may argue that while the NPP has a case, the evidence could not have had a tremendous impact on the outcome of the presidential election and decide not to nullify the election. And third, if the evidence provided is not solid, the courts may disagree on the substantiality of the evidence proving beyond any reasonable doubt that any electoral fraud occurred or even if it did, it was not widespread as claimed. Lessons from past parliamentary electoral disputes show that out of all the election litigations the courts have adjudicated, they have never overturned a single election to put the rightful winner into office. The case may also be prolonged in the Supreme Court either to avoid increasing the already tensed atmosphere in the country or may come under extreme political pressure to delay the case, but as the saying goes “justice delayed is justice denied.” Due to the frequent and often unnecessary delays in adjudicating cases, most Ghanaians may have lost confidence and trust in the country’s legal institutions’ administration of justice. Hence this case is a historic litmus test for the Supreme court to set a precedent for the lower courts to follow its neutrality, objectivity, efficiency and effectiveness. Despite my misgivings about the case as a precautionary measure, I am also optimistic that whatever decision the Supreme Court makes would be in the best interest of the nation and not for the sake of any party. Looking at the current situation and the above analysis, the court case’s outcome is unpredictable so all the parties involved should restrain from being overly optimistic about its outcome. Otherwise, shoring up the hope and optimism of party supporters in advance of the final judgement could potentially break their morale, and spark uncontrollable violence and lawlessness by some disgruntled members if the decision is unfavourable to any party.



The Police Action and the Principle of Neutrality and Professionalism

The Ghana Police Service also be faulted for taking sides in the election dispute. By raiding the NPP’s offices and arresting innocent citizens, as well as unlawfully seizing computers that were being used to compile the party’s evidence in the alleged electoral fraud case, the police not only infringed on the victims’ rights, but also compromised their role as a neutral state institution. As an arm of the executive branch, taking such an unwarranted action in favour of the NDC and without a warrant from the law courts is not only unprofessional, but also unconstitutional and fragrant abuse of power. That is certainly not how to promote peace in a situation such as this one. To preserve the integrity and professionalism of the police as a national institution for peace and security, and dispel the notion that the police service is corrupt, inefficient and serves as a stooge institution for the ruling government, the police must desist from carrying out the wishes of any government in power and protect and serve all citizens and parties equally and fairly as the police behave in other truly democratic countries. The police must also understand that respect for basic human rights is a major fundamental pre-condition for good governance, social cohesiveness, peace and social justice as well as socio-economic development and nation-building in general. In this regard, they must desist from any unprovoked brutality against innocent citizens regardless of their political affiliation. There is a need for more police integrity, accountability and human rights training because abuse of innocent citizens’ basic human rights is uncivilized, unpatriotic and undemocratic.



Democracy and Legitimacy of the NDC Government

One of the basic tenets of democracy is organizing free, fair and successful elections to make it acceptable to competing political parties, and more importantly for the legitimacy of the ruling government to promote unity and patriotism. For national unity, peace and tranquility to prevail in the country, all parties must be prepared to compete in future elections fairly and win it fairly and credibly. If the alleged widespread electoral fraud is true, then leaders of the NDC must realize that we are in the 21st century where most countries are working towards promoting unity and peace through democracy by organizing and ensuring free, fair and transparent elections. Therefore rigging elections is not a smart thing to do if Ghana is to achieve peace and national unity. This will not help sustain and consolidate our teething democracy rather it will create disunity in the country and erode the country’s hard-earned democratic gains sustained in the last 20 years. Whenever people are indirectly disenfranchised as may be happening in the 2012 elections, part of the population will see the government as illegitimate, voter apathy will set in, and there is a high tendency that democracy will gradually become unpopular among many Ghanaians. As we all know, the alternative to democracy could be very costly and very damaging to everyone and our beloved country.





Part 2: Looking for a Way Forward to Address the Election Impasse Peacefully



Lessons from the 2012 Elections for NPP

Obviously, the NPP took the elections for granted and underestimated the capabilities of the NDC’s election rigging machinery and propaganda strategies that have been in operation since 1992, coupled with the NPP’s weak election monitoring strategies. For these reasons, the NPP needs to be more vigilant in future elections and realize that when it comes to elections, its main political competitor always has its own ways and means of making the impossible materialize through any available means. The party also ignored signs of potential complicity by some EC staff in rigging the elections, especially considering the last minute creation of the new constituencies and its failures on the verification of the electoral register. It was really strange that despite the difficulties in changing to the biometric system, in a democratic country like Ghana, the EC decided to spend only forty days for registration of voters. It’s not only unconstitutional as it disenfranchised many citizens, but also it sounded more like a decree under a dictatorial regime. I think for the process to be fair, the voters’ register should have been opened for at least three to six months to allow every qualified voter to register. It is also imperative that the NPP leadership examines why the alleged electoral fraud could not be detected earlier but found out rather too late, as this may not be the first time this alleged practice may have taken place. If the allegations prove to be true, then I would say perhaps this was the first time it was noticed by the NPP because it was done on a massive scale to tilt the electoral outcomes. The NPP must be more vigilant and press the EC for electoral reforms. As a saying goes, “sometimes it is necessary to lose your way to discover something new”.



More importantly, the NPP party leaders should conduct a general audit of the elections to see what went wrong in the party’s election campaign and monitoring strategies. While pursuing the case legally, we should not let anger and emotions overrule our reasoning and strategic viewpoint in order to leave some realistic options open as well. The NPP leadership should explore whether taking a hard-line or conciliatory approach will best help the party achieve its short and long term goals. Whatever route is taken should be forward-looking to enable the party explore new strategies and opportunities to improve its electoral chances. Taking these steps to evaluate and address other factors that may have contributed to the party’s electoral loses and disappointing performance in for example, the Central, Western and Brong Ahafo regions that were vital and strategic to winning the 2012 presidential and parliamentary elections could also help reorganize the party and position it strategically for the next elections. Selecting presidential and vice presidential candidates should also be based on diverse strategic considerations in order to offer the party a broad-based support in its strongest support bases. There is also a high level of intolerance for criticism in the NPP that should be addressed appropriately and allow the youth, women, minority groups and grassroots supporters to play significant roles in the party’s organization. I believe these suggestions should constitute the basis for any new reform agenda the party pursues in the post-2012 elections in order to offer the party better prospects in future elections. I believe majority of Ghanaians are not happy with what happened in the December 7 & 8, 2012 elections, but should the legal case not go the NPP’s way, we should all live above the fray of political wrangling and move on peacefully. After all, as the legendary reggae icon, Bob Marley wrote in one of his songs, “he who fights and run away lives to fight another day.”It is important for everyone to understand that politics is a pendulum and must involve the rotation of power among competing political parties. It may swing to the left, right or centre at different times, but no matter which direction it swings to, it must be in the interest of the people and the state. Also, in politics and business as well as in life, it’s not about how many adversities and setbacks knock you down, but how often you get up and fight back to win and triumph over unexpected stumbling blocks to success.” I believe that the United Party tradition is resilient, peaceful and law-abiding. Regardless of how long the NPP stays in opposition, the party will come back to power. If after being opposition from 1979-2000, the UP tradition was able to wrestle power from the NDC, I believe the party can succeed if its leadership is more vigilant. By picking up the pieces together to reorganize and strategize as the Republican Party in the United States is currently learning to change, the party can overcome its failures and weaknesses, and greatly enhance its electoral fortunes in the 2016 elections.



The Role of IPAC and other Local & International Bodies

The Inter-party Advisory Committee (IPAC) could play a major role in the process of resolving the ongoing political stalemate between the NPP and NDC with the EC in the middle of the on-going political mess. Since the EC is part of the problem, and in the centre of the dispute, it cannot spearhead any meaningful solution as it has lost a section of the public’s confidence and trust to act as an honest broker in the case. Nonetheless, if all the presidential candidates want the best for the country and not just power, then this is the time to exercise maturity and discretion. Through IPAC, civic organizations, think tanks and some international organizations, the respective presidential candidates and political parties could sit down together to find a common ground to resolve this complex issue. That is, all the presidential candidates including President Mahama could agree to fresh presidential elections, if the Supreme Court deems it necessary. I believe most Ghanaians and the international community will be thrilled to see this come to fruition. Another alternative solution is through the consensus or power sharing system of some sort to break the political impasse. Taking any of these steps require extreme political maturity and commitment to national patriotism – putting Ghana First. The challenges in the 2012 elections also highlight some key disadvantages of the majoritarian (plurality or winner-takes-all) electoral system Ghana currently practices. Since every society can shape its democracy to meet its needs and experiences, it is necessary to introduce a hybrid system of democracy in Ghana by incorporating aspects of the presidential and parliamentary systems of democracy and the majoritarian and proportional representation electoral systems in the country’s political system as practiced in France, Germany and other countries. This could help promote unity and achieve ultimate benefit for the country and all citizens. While the parliamentary system has its own disadvantages, the presidential system may lead to polarization of society, especially in heterogeneous societies such as ours. In the same way, the majoritarian system could lead to under-representation of women and minority groups in the society. It is important that the government, parliament and the EC work towards incorporating the best of each of these systems, especially aspects of the proportional representation system in our electoral system at the parliamentary level to give fair representation to women and other groups who may be underrepresented in our national decision-making institutions.



Where Do We Go From Here?

The way forward to addressing the on-going election deadlock is to find a common ground for a peaceful settlement in this crisis. The harm and injustice has already been done to Ghana’s electoral integrity affecting the parties and the EC for its role. Nonetheless, all parties involved must adopt a forward-looking approach to address the election challenges appropriately by looking at ideal solutions and ways to prevent such situations in the future. We should understand that democracy develops and grows through nurturing and making constant changes. As we are well aware, Ghana’s democracy has come a long way since the 1992 democratic transition, overcoming all kinds of adversities and its triumphant moments – election boycott, electoral disputes over fraud, and electoral failures to name a few as well as electoral successes and power alternations respectively. These show the diverse setbacks and triumphant moments Ghana’s democracy and electoral system have gone through over the years since the 1992 transition, but in all these, the country has prevailed. Nonetheless, a great deal of weaknesses and challenges remain to be dealt with, such as eliminating electoral fraud towards promoting free and fair elections, educating the masses in voting procedures, promoting internal party democracy and dealing with the emerging threat of the dominance of monetary influence in politics due to weak campaign financing oversight roles by the EC. For the sake of preserving Ghana’s democracy, let’s all look retrospectively at the 2012 presidential election experiences from the bright side of things and understand that no matter the current circumstance, it could have been worse.



The idea of democracy either under a parliamentary or presidential system of government is associated with political parties and elections. Political parties and elections are indispensable mechanisms for promoting democratic governance in contemporary democracies, thus our parties must facilitate free and fair competition for votes and power, because the basic foundation of any democracy is organizing transparent, free and fair elections. If we truly prefer peace and unity to violence and lawlessness as our political leaders preach to us, then let’s all abide by the laws, rules and regulations, as well as the constitutional provisions and practice it by play by the same rules in all cases. In order to address the country’s development challenges adequately and bring progress to the people, we need to imbibe the values of patriotism and bear more allegiance to Ghana than to our political parties and ethnic groups. It is the responsibility of the government and institutions of the executive branch, political parties and civil society to sensitize the people on patriotism and the need to consolidate our democracy by creating the right path and setting the right example to place “Ghana First”. In so doing, the rest of the citizens will follow the set pace as is evident in many Western countries and countries in the Asian Pacific region. In fact, one of the major contributing factors for Asian countries’ accelerated development is due to their citizens’ patriotism. In nation-building, patriotism is vital for achieving national pride, peace, national unity and ultimately, national development. Unfortunately, many Ghanaians and Africans in general do not see things this way and keep promoting partisanship and ethnicity over nationalism. Ghana has an excellent reputation as one of the few examples of successful and consolidated “third wave” democracies in Africa and the developing world in general. It is the responsibility of all the political parties to play significant roles as custodians of the country’s democracy by behaving responsibly during and after elections and not act in a way to lead the country into political chaos and anarchy. We should all understand that whether you are NPP, NDC or any party for that matter, the success of our democracy and national development depends largely on how we work together to promote democracy and human rights in our society. We all need to promote tolerance and cooperation among our parties and people, because the bahaviour and attitude of our party leaders greatly affect the citizens’ relations with one another. Where there is antagonism, hatred and vindictiveness at the top, it trickles down to the masses at the grassroots. Regardless of our political or ideological affiliation, we should always remember that we are “one nation, one people with one destiny” and seek one common goal - development and prosperity for all - and we can achieve this if we bond together as one nation and work together and not against each other. Long Live Ghana and Long Live Ghana’s democracy!!



About the Author

Nick Fobih is an Assistant Professor of Public Policy/Administration and Political Science in the Liberal Arts Department at the George Brown College in Toronto, Canada. His previous work experience includes the Department of Public Administration, Myongji University, Assistant Professor, Sejong University Graduate School of Business, both in South Korea and Policy Advisor, Office of the President of Ghana. (He can be reached at nfobih@gmail.com)