Ghanapolitics101: Of Deja Vu and Election 2012

As we draw closer to elections in the Beacon of African Democracy, Ghana, the rapidly evolving political landscape is making election outcomes unclear. With just under 50 days to go to the general elections, some rules that have applied in recent elections are now being defied /thrown out the window as the soap opera quality to politics is becoming more apparent in Ghana. No other figure in Ghanaian contemporary politics is defying the well-established unwritten rules than former President Jerry John Rawlings. Here are some examples:

Sept 19, 2012 : JoyFM- Rawlings endorses [ruling party candidate] Mahama 

Oct 11, 2012 : JoyFM- Rawlings assures [main opposition candidate] Akufo-Addo he may not campaign against him

Oct 15, 2012: BBC - Ghana's Jerry Rawlings 'backs' wife's presidential bid [in a newly formed political party]

Well, it appears Mrs. Rawlings' presidential bid may have been nipped in the bud for now. When it comes to the other front-runners, it is becoming too close to call. Just two weeks ago, it appeared the opposition candidate had the upper hand. He was criss-crossing the country with his vision of free senior high school education and had a rather quizzical photo-op meeting with the former president Mr. Rawlings. Government communicators downplayed this meeting at the same time and at the same time punched serious holes in the free secondary high school plan without articulating a clear alternative. A week later, President Mahama gives a stellar performance at the IEA encounter. Luckily for him, none of the questions he was asked by the audience dealt with some of the nagging questions on corruption.

Interesting, three other parties, the PNC, CPP and PPP have all announced female running mates. Some have viewed these moves as mere window-dressing ploys to appeal to women voters. Speaking of women in Ghanaian politics, I participated in a lively Twitter debate on this topic on Friday hosted by GhanaDecides. Many commentators emphasized that competence of women politicians should be key of course without questioning the competence of male politicians. Anyway, that is a topic for another blogpost. 

Despite the unexpected twists and turns, Ghana Election 2012 is beginning to have a strange deja vu quality reminiscent of Election 2008: it is all turning out too close to call.

BBC Focus on Africa magazine cover: 2008

Interestingly, JoyFM's poll of the moment appears to suggest differently. 

Polls on JOY [FM]: "If elections were held today, who would you vote for?"

That is, if we are to believe that 105,375 voted in this poll which is about 1000 times the usual number of voters on 'Polls on Joy' and that 39,9779 people would vote for the PPP. My money is still on the election being too close to call.

As the week drew to a close, the Electoral Commission announced what the ballot paper will look like on December 7th. 

JoyFM: Prez Mahama is Number 1, Akufo-Addo No. 3 on ballot paper

Apparently, prophets all over Ghana have had the nation in rapt attention over the prophetic significance of the ballot positions.