CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION

• BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

The consolidation of democratic principles in many nations around the world led to much emphasis being placed on elections (Pereira, 2006). According to Santiso (2001), elections serve as a mechanism through which government attains its legitimacy, authority and credibility. The aftermath of the Cold war led to an increased spread of multi-party competition and holding of elections to elect officials into legislative and executive offices worldwide (Van Ham, 2012). As a result, many of the third world regimes including African authoritarian regimes began to hold a multi-party election with universal suffrage for both executive and legislative offices (Abutudu, 2003).

Elections are accepted worldwide as an effective way of choosing state officials or administrators. Elections have emerged as a tool for the stabilization and democratization of African emerging democracies (Kühne, 2010). However, elections have turned out to be the root cause of some nations’ relapse in their democratization processes (Asante & Asare, 2016). According to Huerta (2014), elections provide a platform where the stability of a country is tested. Free and fair elections can maintain the political stability of a country (Namibia 2005), while disputed election can erupt political violence in a country (Burundi 2015, Cote d’Ivoire 2010, Kenya 2007) (Penar, Aiko, Bentley, & Han, 2016). Losers of an election have the option of either accepting or rejecting the electoral result and to challenge the validity of the outcome in court, protest on the street or both (Chernykh, 2014). Huerta (2014) stated that the behaviour of losing parties in an election is important in the democratic process of a country. He argued that losing parties’ refusal to accept the declared results by the electoral commission could trigger political instability and chaos (Huerta, 2014).

Norman (2012) indicated that there was no record of disputed election during the single-party system in most African countries. During the one-party system era, there was no established institution for addressing electoral grievance and electoral malpractices. Before 1990, there had been no record of a disputed election in Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania. The induction of multiparty elections in Africa introduced challenges to declared electoral results, partly due to disagreement or suspicion over the declared results. Multiparty democracy is characterized by different political ideologies competing for attention during an election. Multiparty democracy creates suspicion and scepticism among competing political parties (Norman, 2012).

Elections in Ghana and other emerging democracies in Africa promote opportunism because winning power ensures wealth and influence and also fosters patrimonialism (Agyeman- Duah, 2000). The first-past-the-post system which is practised in most emerging democracies in Africa establishes a winner-takes-all system. The winner-takes-all system sidelines defeated parties from partaking in the administrative role of government (Maisie, 2012). Political parties, therefore, aim at winning elections at all cost which makes election keenly contested (Maisie, 2012). The highly competitive nature of African presidential elections encourages electoral malpractices (Asunka, Brierley, Kramon, & Ofosu, 2015). Competition in these elections are tense and due to lack of trust and suspicion, elections are characterized by disputed outcomes, boycott and violence (Agyeman-Duah, 2000).

Kühne (2010) stated that without an independent Electoral Commission and effective Election Complaint System, the electoral process risks being rigged by incumbents thereby, lacking credibility in the eyes of the people. The mechanism for electoral dispute resolutions is an integral part of the test for free and fair elections in democratic set-up (Musila, Sihanya, Thiankolu, & Ongoya, 2013). In most democratic countries, constitutional provisions exist

for the resolution of electoral grievances; in the case of Ghana, Article 64 of the 1992 Constitution (Nkansah, 2016) and Kenya, Article 163(3)(a) of the Kenyan Constitution (Musila et al., 2013).

The validity of Ghana’s 2012 presidential election results was challenged by the New Patriotic Party in the Supreme Court in accordance with Article 64 of the 1992 Constitution. The Petition created a highly tense atmosphere as supporters of the two major political parties, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and National Democratic Congress (NDC), were on the verge of explosion, waiting for the least trigger. However, in Ghana’s situation contesting parties decided to subject themselves institutional arrangement made for the resolution of disputed presidential elections (Asante & Asare, 2016).

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