Thuggery, Sophisticated Impunity: Threats to Representative Democracy in Ghana

27 August 2020, Version 1
This content is an early or alternative research output and has not been peer-reviewed at the time of posting.

Abstract

The paper discusses patterns and dynamics of by-election violence and consequences on candidate selection in Ghana. Analysis of by-election violence as a factor of political thuggery, impunity and effects on candidate selection remain scanty on Ghanaian politics. The paper analyses the problem using nine “violent” and nine “violent-free” by-elections between 1993 and 2019, and implications on voter turnout and margin of victory between National Democratic Congress and New Patriotic Party. Voter turnout and margin of victory are low in “violent” by-election compared with “violent-free” parliamentary election in the same constituency, and “violent-free” by-elections in other constituencies. Violence is incited by foot-soldiers of the parties. I attribute by-election violence to apparent weak commitment by the government to crack the whip by linking electoral injustice and impunity to the conduct of democratic election and law maintenance. The challenge speaks to institutionalization, electoral reforms and simple majority benefiting from the entire political establishment.

Comments

Comments are not moderated before they are posted, but they can be removed by the site moderators if they are found to be in contravention of our Commenting Policy [opens in a new tab] - please read this policy before you post. Comments should be used for scholarly discussion of the content in question. You can find more information about how to use the commenting feature here [opens in a new tab] .
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy [opens in a new tab] and Terms of Service [opens in a new tab] apply.