Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy

Consensus reached on national political reform agenda

In October last year at a launch event in Accra, Ghana’s political leadership presented their Democratic Consolidation Strategy Paper (DSCP) to the public. Supported by NIMD and the Accra-based Institute for Economic Affairs (IEA), the Paper offers both a comprehensive review of the state of democracy in Ghana and a roadmap on how to enhance its performance.

Read the CASE STUDY Ghana: A home-grown democratic agenda by IEA Administrator Jean Mensa, to learn how the DCSP is contributing to tangible political change in Ghana.

Positive contributions to the legitimacy of the electoral process

The main focus of the Ghana programme in 2008 was on the Parliamentary and Presidential elections in December.  Against the background of incidental violence during the primaries and some irregularities in the voter registration process, IEA has successfully helped reduce interparty tensions in a number of ways and by doing so, contributed positively to the conduct of peaceful and fair elections and a smooth transition of power.

A number of proposals prepared by IEA with a view to help enhance the legitimacy and transparency of the elections were adopted by the Inter Party Advisory Committee (IPAC) of the Electoral Commission. One IPAC meeting discussed the revised Political Parties Code of Conduct prepared by IEA . The Code, now enhanced by an Enforcement Body, was adopted by all political parties.

Also a communiqué, cosigned by IEA, the Electoral Commission, the National Commission for Civic Education, the National Peace Council and Net Right (an umbrella of women’s organization) was adopted by IPAC. In the  communiqué, the participating political parties pledged to leave the task of announcing the election results to the Electoral Commission.

 A series of televised debates with presidential candidates taking questions from the public further helped to enhance the legitimacy of the electoral process. A related effect of the debate series is that it forced parties to focus their campaigns on policy proposals.


Capacity of women parliamentary candidates enhanced

To enhance the campaign and fundraising skills of thirty female candidates for the parliamentary elections, a workshop was held in August. Two Dutch party reprersentatives, Ms Anita de Horde (GreenLeft party) and Brigette van der Burg (Liberal party) together with a lecturer from the University of Accra and the Director Communications of National Democratic Congress (NDC), trained the women in campaign planning, fundraising and public speech. The workshop enabled the candidates to develop their profiles, which were published in a national newspaper.

Read the CASE STUDY '"Poor but bold": advancing the political participation of women in Ghana'.